Clarity
by K-yers
Summary: Barely able to speak due to a childhood accident, Teanna Waid was always an outcast. When she moves to Beacon Hills, she expects it to be the same as all the other schools she has attended. But when she befriends two fellow oddballs, Teanna will figure out the hard way that she's much more than some outsider. Slight Stiles/OC/Derek.
1. 1: Beacon Hills

This was the fourth school I've been to in the past two years. With this knowledge in mind, I didn't expect much from Beacon Hills High School.

My Dad's work moved us around far too much. And because my dad could be stationed anywhere at any time, I didn't get much time to make friends. My Facebook profile had only thirty-some people as "friends" and they were all mainly family. There were very few other teenagers on there.

As we drove closer to the high school, I wanted nothing more than to be angry at my parents for dragging me with them. I had been extremely close to becoming somebody at my old school. There had been a boy who liked me, and people seemed to generally like me. But then my dad got orders that we were moving from Florida to California. Then again, moving would always be hard for me, considering my problem.

"New beginnings, everyone," My mom kept repeating from the front seat. "Tons of new beginnings for everyone here," But that's what she said every time we moved somewhere. Beside me, my younger sister, Chelsea, rolled her eyes and pushed her headphones farther into her ears.

"Hey look, we're here," Dad said in a strained cheerful voice. I craned my neck to get a good look at the high school. It was a large, red-brick building with a sign in front with the school's name carved in the stone in big block letters. I forced down the butterflies in my stomach as we parked the car.

"Aren't you excited, honey?" Mom asked me in a pretty darn excited voice. I glanced at her nervously and nodded with a jerk of my head. She smiled even wider and squeezed my arm. I wished that she wouldn't. Without thinking, I reached up to the base of my throat and rubbed the old scar that resided there.

We strolled into the school with an air of nervousness. Chelsea just looked bored. We didn't have to take five steps before we were greeted by a man who looked like the principal.

"Hello there," He said kindly. "You must be the Waid family. It's so nice to finally meet you after talking on the phone for so long." His eyes met mine. "And you must be Teanna?"

The old and familiar ache in my throat started to bug me, so I just nodded quickly. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my parents glance anxiously at each other. I ducked my head and tried to hide the shame on my face.

"Why don't we speak in my office?" The principal asked. We followed him wordlessly through the main office and into his own office. He sat down behind the desk and I took the seat in front of him. The nameplate on his desk said, "Mr. Bostick," He smiled at me through his glasses.

"Now it looks like all of your grades are next to perfect," Bostick said. "But what I'm worried about is your…condition."

I turned red again and wished that I could've been normal. A memory of glowing eyes and steely claws flashed through my mind and I shuddered. I could feel my parents' eyes watching me closely.

"Now let me clarify this that it's not complete muteness, and it's not selective muteness either?" Bostick asked politely.

I nodded and prepared my voice. "It just hurts really bad to talk sometimes,"

"Does it hurt now?" Bostick asked with his eyebrows.

I lied and shook my head in a defiant no. Bostick nodded and typed on his computer for a moment. Then he turned back to me. "I have your schedule ready if you're ready to start classes. Do you _want _to start classes today?"

I glanced down at my clothes; dark blue jeans and a Doctor Who T-shirt with my favorite black converse. I had dressed expecting to start classes today, so that's what I was going with. I cleared my throat.

"I'm ready for school,"

Bostick smiled broadly. "In that case, you should head on down to your new Chemistry class, Miss Waid." Bostick had the decency to shake my hand before he handed me my schedule. I smiled at my family despite their worried faces and walked into the hallway alone.

There seems to be an unspoken rule in all high schools that no matter what time of day and no matter which hallway, there is always going to be at least one student stalling before they get to class. And each one I passed stared me down. I guess it had to do with the fact that this was a small school and everyone knew everyone. I was just a new outsider trespassing on their territory.

It took me awhile to find the chemistry labs, but when I did I found myself standing outside the door and staring at the narrow window. This was going to be the first taste I would get of this school. Would this place be as bad as my first high school, where a group of mean girls made my life hell by mocking me with snide comments and searing questions about the scar on my throat? Or would it be like my middle school experience, where some popular kids had stolen my clothes during gym and I was forced to retrieve them in front of half the student body? I exhaled, struggling to calm my pounding heart, and entered the room.

Everyone in the room stared at me as if I had just murdered a dozen people. The teacher stood at the front of the class. He had brown hair and a pale pointed face with pale and mean-looking gray eyes. He stared me up and down before speaking.

"Are you lost?" He asked in a dreary and bored voice that cut like knives all the same. There was the sound of sniggering from the back of the room. I felt my face heat up and inched closer to the teacher. With shaking hands, I handed him my paper from Principal Bostick explaining my situation.

The teacher narrowed his eyes and glanced at me again, or at my throat. I turned red again but refused to drop my gaze this time. He snorted and handed me back my paper.

"Go ahead and sit down wherever you find an empty seat, Miss Waid," He said with forced politeness. "I'm Mr. Harris and class," He turned to address the entire class. "This is Teanna Waid; I expect you'll make her feel welcome."

The only empty seat left was at the very back of the class and walking to it was like the walk of shame. It felt like every pair of eyes was on me. There was one moment where my eyes met one boy's, a particularly attractive boy at that. A mop of black hair sat upon his head and his eyes were a focused pair of chocolate brown. As I walked by him, he raised his hand just slightly and waved it a little bit. I gave a small smile and ducked my head out of the slight embarrassment. Whoever this boy was, I hoped that I would see more of him as the year went by.


	2. 2: Boys and Girls

Chemistry had never been one of my stronger subjects, but with people glancing over their shoulders at me every now and then, I got the impression that it was going to be even harder than usual. Seriously, it seemed that every time I looked up from my paper, someone snapped their head away just in time to avoid my gaze.

The only exception was one guy sitting nearby. He looked extremely muscular and had dirty blond hair that was spiked up with gel. At one point when I got enough courage to stare back at him, he grinned wickedly and winked my way. I turned bright red and ducked my head for what felt like the thousandth time that day.

I welcomed the bell that signaled the end of class. I had already packed up the few things I had brought with me and made a bee-line to the door. I had just exited the classroom when the boy with the nice eyes stood in my way.

"Hi there," He said quite nicely. I smiled slightly and made a move to go around him but he blocked my way again. "My name's Scott McCall and the idiot behind you is my friend Stiles."

I spun around to find his friend looking awkward a few steps away. The first thing I noticed was that he had a buzz cut and that his eyes were brown. Freckles spotted his slightly pale face and he smiled at me awkwardly while eyeballing Scott the entire time.

"Yeah, that's me; Stiles," He said. I nodded at him as politely as I could while my throat started burning.

There was an uncomfortable pause where we just stared at each other. Then Scott spoke. "You don't talk much, do you?"

Dammit. _It would be easier to talk to you if I could _speak. My throat had begun its usual burning sensation. Stiles swooped in to stand beside his friend as they both waited for my answer. I sighed and dug into my pocket for the principal's note. My mom would freak out if she knew what I was doing, but I wasn't just going to stand here and stare at these two fairly attractive guys.

Scott took the paper from my outstretched hand and unfolded it. Stiles glanced at me before reading the note over Scott's shoulder. When they finished they both looked directly at my neck.

"How'd that happen?" Scott asked. He sounded generally interested. I cleared my throat as best as I could and spoke in a low voice.

"Very long story," I managed to say before my voice cracked. Scott looked sympathetic. Stiles looked fascinated.

"Say what class do you have next?" Stiles asked as he snatched the principal's note from Scott's hand. Scott threw him a sharp glance. Stiles returned the crumbled paper to me.

_French, _I thought as I took my schedule out of my other pocket. Stiles and Scott both scanned the schedule pretty fast and returned it.

"French _three_?" Scott asked with an unsure voice. "Why would you take something like that? One year of foreign language is more than enough for me." He smirked at his lame joke. I faked a laugh just to make him feel better.

"Well, it looks like we'll see each other again during Economics." Stiles said. That fact made my day just a little better as I waved goodbye to the boys and headed my way to French class.

* * *

The day was a multi-colored blur. The only time it really paused was when I met a girl named Erica. No one else was sitting with her in our Algebra class and the last empty seat was right next to her. Turns out she was set aside from everyone because of something she couldn't control too.

When it became time for Economics, I found myself hurrying there in order to catch Scott and Stiles. I had no idea as to why I wanted to see them again, aside from the fact that they were two of the few people who were nice to me. Aside from them and Erica, no one else had bothered to even learn my name.

I entered the Economics classroom to find a man who looked to be in his early thirties standing beside the desk. My first thought was that it looked like his hair had gotten into a fight with a leaf-blower.

"Who are you?" He asked so loudly that his voice almost knocked me off my feet. I removed my note from Principal Bostick from my pocket and handed it to him. As he was reading it Scott and Stiles walked into the room behind me. They both smiled warmly at me and took a pair of seats in the middle of the class.

"Well, that's different," The teacher said. Like everyone else, his eyes went straight for my throat. I pretended that it didn't bother me and took my note back. "Okay then, find a seat and we'll start class soon."

"Tea!" Stiles called out. I ignored him and started looking around for an empty seat. More people were filing in the class and the seats were being taken up fast.

"Tea, look over here!" Stiles yelled again. I glanced over at where he was sitting. I frowned at the position he was in. Stiles had blanketed himself over two desks and was waving his left arm through the air while shouting out for a beverage. "Tea, just come over here!"

_Am I Tea? _By the way Stiles was glaring at me and waving in my general direction, it would seem so. I walked slowly towards him, just in case it wasn't me. But apparently I was right because as I got closer, Stiles slid off the desk in front of him and gestured with his hands for me to sit.

"By the way," Stiles started as I sat down. "Next time I shout out your name and wave you over, don't hesitate to _hurry_."

"Ignore him," Scott said. Suddenly Scott's face went limp as he stared at the doorway. Curious, I followed his gaze and saw that he was staring at a pretty, dark-haired girl.

Stiles pretended to vomit out of the corner of my eye, causing me to laugh. The girl was followed by another girl with reddish blond hair who looked like she went on a shopping spree every weekend. She led the dark-haired girl to the far end of the classroom to sit in a corner.

"She hasn't even been here a week, and Lydia has already sucked her up." Scott said with something that sounded like disappointment. "How does that happen?" He was looking at me.

_Does it look like I know? _I shrugged. Scott sighed and craned his neck and tried to get a good look at the brunette. _Who was she? _I turned back to Stiles to ask but he was already facing that way. I was alarmed to see that he was actually drooling.

_Extra points to that brunette for snatching up these two. _Shaking my head, I turned to the front of the class as our teacher started to talk.

"McCall; Stilinski; would you like to explain to the class as to what is so fascinating that it's distracting you from class?" He nearly screamed. I flinched in my seat.

_A little louder why don't you? I'm pretty sure that some people in China didn't hear you._

"Uh…um…" Scott said stupidly. I risked a glance at the two of them. Scott's mouth was hanging open as he fished for an answer somewhere. Stiles was too busy wiping the drool off his chin. Our teacher smirked and laughed to himself.

"Whatever, you'll just have to make up for it on the lacrosse field. Ten extra laps 'round the track. Now _pay attention_!" He yelled the last part. I rubbed at my ears.

It was pretty easy to see that this teacher fueled on his favorite students, and majority of the time, they were guys who played on his lacrosse team. I was relieved to finally recover my hearing when the bell signaled the end of class. Stiles stole my schedule again and held it up high so that I couldn't reach it.

"We've got gym together but after that, nada." He announced loudly to Scott while he watched us from a few feet away. He kept glancing over to that dark-haired girl. I cleared my throat and turned towards Scott.

"Talk to her," I said in my naturally rough and cracked voice. Scott looked a little surprised that I spoke and spun around towards the girl.

"You're right; I should talk to her." Scott took a step away from me but then turned back around. "What do I talk about?"

Stiles rolled his eyes. "The weather; it's been a conversation starter for centuries. Just do it." Scott glanced at me. I nodded and gestured towards the girl. Scott grinned nervously.

"I thought you liked her too," I said in a broken-sounding voice. Stiles looked at me like I was crazy.

"Alison? Nope; I was looking at the goddess standing beside her with the beautiful strawberry-blond hair." Stiles's voice faded away and he started staring off into space again. I snapped my fingers in front of his face; it didn't work. I took the opportunity to steal my schedule back. As I walked away, I couldn't figure out why I felt so disappointed.


	3. 3: Idiots

My parents were extremely pushy. I finally managed to escape them by distracting them with Chelsea's school day. Only then was I able to hide away in my room. I just wanted to get away from them so that I could be alone with my thoughts.

All in all, Beacon Hills was an alright school. Aside from lacrosse coaches that should come with a warning label about making students go deaf, it was actually a pretty good school. I had met Alison, Scott's apparent crush, and Lydia, the redhead that Stiles was drooling over and they had sat with me at lunch just so that I wouldn't be alone. Erica had a total of three of my classes. And Scott and Stiles were there and pretty much helped me stay sane throughout the day.

We were in the middle of unpacking when it came on the news. The anchorman was reporting about how the police had recovered the second half to dead body that was found in the woods.

A dead—freaking—body.

"Maybe it wasn't such idea to come here," Mom said nervously. Dad glanced at her pointedly.

"You know that we didn't have a choice about coming here. We'll just have to make the best of it."

I knocked on the coffee table loudly. My parents looked at me with impatience. I raised my hands in a gesture of surrender before pointing to the TV. The anchorman was now talking about how the police caught the suspect. My parents both deflated.

The rest of the night was tense. I couldn't help but get the feeling that they were not telling me something. But that wasn't anything new; I had gotten used to them keeping secrets ever since my accident.

"Teanna; it's time for bed." My mom called to me from the living room. I closed out of Facebook and shuffled into the kitchen for my pills.

Ever since the accident, I've had to take a dosage of two pills every night. These pills were oval and dusty purple, and they just _had _to be dry swallowed. Otherwise they were useless. After choking down the damned things, I marched up to bed for what I hoped would be a dreamless sleep.

* * *

Moonlight streamed through the green canopy of leaves. Damp leaves and dirt stuck to my sneakers as I made my way through the spaced undergrowth. Oak, birch, and maple trees shaded most of the forest floor with few patches of the moon's rays shining through.

Crickets chirped from somewhere nearby. I continued my pointless trudge through the wood. My mind wasn't thinking about where I was. The only thing that was coming to mind was how nice the forest seemed at night.

A howl cut through the night air like a knife. My pulse spiked up as I spun around on my heel. _Wolves don't live in California._ But if that was true, why were wolves howling around me?

The sound of thudding feet started heading my way. I could feel my heart race even more than it already was. I tried to swallow the mounting fear in my throat but the familiar burning sensation there was interfering with anything else. The sound of running feet got louder.

I wheeled around and started to run as fast I could. But the faster I moved, the louder the sound of pounding feet got. Tears started to form in my eyes as my legs started to throb from the amount of running I was doing. I suddenly felt hot breath on the back of my neck. With a scream, I stumbled to the forest floor.

Then claws slashed my throat open, causing my blood to leak out and drench the front half of my body in the hot, sticky substance. A pair of red eyes flashed in front of me and there was a sudden burst of flame spiraled around me…

I shot up in bed. Sweat beaded across my forehead and I could feel myself shaking like a leaf. Shadows crowded my room and the moonlight streamed in through my window. I froze as I recognized the taste of blood in my mouth. My tongue throbbed; I had bitten down on it during that nightmare.

I couldn't go back to sleep. Not after that. What I had dreamed about was the most terrifying thing I had ever experienced: the night I nearly lost my voice.

* * *

"Are you going to the lacrosse game tonight?" Alison asked me during lunch the next day. I shrugged. I've never seen a lacrosse game before, and I wasn't particularly interested. I wrote this down on the sheet of paper Alison had laid out on the table. She turned it towards her and read quickly what I had written down.

"Neither have I, but I'm still being dragged into it by Lydia." We both turned to stare at the vending machines where Lydia was searching for a bottle of water. Alison looked back at me. "And if I'm being forced into it, so are you."

I huffed and stabbed at the damp salad I was attempting to eat. Alison laughed shortly and returned to her own meal. Only after a few moments of silence did Lydia join us.

"I swear, those idiots by the vending machines," Lydia was muttering as she took her seat beside Alison. I glanced over her shoulder to see the said idiots by the vending machines. Scott and Stiles waved politely back at me.

_Oh; those idiots. _I shook my head at them and continued poking at my salad. Lydia started reapplying her lipstick after taking her first sip of water.

"Did you convince Teanna yet?" Lydia asked Alison. I looked up at the two of them.

"I told her that she _is _coming to the game whether she likes it or not." Alison said proudly. I gave them a mock glare and pointed at my paper again. Lydia leaned forward to read it. When she was finished she regained her position and shook her head at me.

"You can't skip out on the _lacrosse _games, Teanna." The way she said it, you would've thought that I was planning on skipping church. "Everyone goes to the games." She cut off with a sly grin. "And there are always some pretty hot guys playing on the team, if you haven't noticed."

A few guys passed by our table with lacrosse sticks hanging from their backpacks. They both smiled charmingly and one of them winked at us. I felt my face turn red and I ducked my head out of habit.

"You see?" Lydia asked in a triumphant voice. "I'm pretty sure that guy will be looking for you at the game. But if you're not there, he'll fall into the arms of another. That goes for you too, Alison."

_Talk about overdramatic._

I rolled my eyes and I ended up spotting Scott from across the room. Scott looked like he was gripping the sides of his table and he looked _pissed_. Scratch that, he was looking pissed in our direction. I frowned at him and raised my shoulders in question. Stiles nudged his best friend hard with his elbow and Scott doubled over in what looked like in pain. Stiles glanced at me and waved again, trying to act nonchalant.

_Yep, they're idiots._


	4. 4: Lacrosse

I was to meet both Alison and Lydia at the lacrosse field that night after school. I still wasn't very excited about going to the game and nothing Stiles said to me could change my mind.

The way he had reacted when I told him what I had told Alison and Lydia during lunch was astounding. Anyone passing by would've thought I had just let out the worst secret in the history of the universe.

"You're going," Stiles decided after he ranted at me for a solid eight minutes. "You're not going to shoot it down when you have never even seen a game." Scott looked up from where he was sitting.

"She doesn't ave to go if she doesn't want to," Scott said quickly. I raised my eyebrows at him while Stiles gaped at him. "In fact; don't come at all. I have a feeling that this game is going to, um, end badly."

Stiles groaned but nodded. "As much as I hate to admit it, Scott's right. Just stay home tonight and ponder about what could've been." He stared off into space to add dramatic effect.

I narrowed my eyes at the pair of them. _On second thought, I was definitely going._

* * *

_Lydia was right. Everyone is here._

The lacrosse field was crowded with students and parents as the game got ready to start. Faces swam in front of me but I couldn't find the familiar ones that I was looking for. Then I found Erica.

I made a bee-line for her and eventually, she saw me walking towards her.

"Hey there, Anna," Erica greeted cheerfully. She had adopted the nickname "Anna" due to the fact that she found my name to long to say in a hurry. I sort of wanted to offer the name "Tea", but it seemed more like something I had between Scott and Stiles.

"Who're you here with?" Erica asked. I glanced around one last time for Alison and Lydia; they weren't around. So I turned back to Erica and shook my head. She smiled again and offered to sit with me. I smiled widely and followed her into the stands.

"Have you ever watched lacrosse before?" Erica asked. I shook my head in a no. She nodded and we sat down in the top of the stands. "I've only watched a few games before; I don't get it that much, but it's entertaining enough." She paused and grinned wickedly. She lowered her voice before adding, "Especially the guys,"

Erica then started giggling as if thinking about guys was one of the naughtiest things to do. I giggled too, despite myself. I found that whenever Erica laughed, I laughed too. Erica's laugh was always contagious. And she always had a manic, surprised look in her eyes—that look people get when they can't keep a straight face.

Then Beacon Hills lacrosse team ran out on to the field. I quickly spotted Jackson, Lydia's creeper boyfriend. He had sat with us at lunch the other day and had looked insanely bored yet possessive over Lydia the entire time. He wouldn't even let her sit anywhere less than four inches away from him. He reminded me of a cat when they had caught something; he was never sure if he should throw away the creature or eat it.

Trudging behind the pack was Scott and Stiles. I brought my hands together a few times before hiding them in my pockets from the cold. Erica started goggling at their backs.

"You see number twenty-four?" Erica asked, pointing to the said player. I easily recognized Stiles. I gave her a pointed look and nodded, knowing where this was going. Erica sighed. "He sat next to me last year in Physical Science. Oh my _God_, he's just…" She faded away with another sigh. I tried to hide the smirk on my face by watching the players get into their positions on the field.

As the game progressed, I became more and more lost. The only real hope I had of keeping up with what was happening on the field was the scoreboard, which said we were about to lose if some miracle didn't happen soon. I had found Alison and Lydia; they were a few rows up and were holding up giant signs that rooted for Jackson.

Scott looked as lost as I felt. He ran around the field, tried to get the ball but was pushed out of the way several times. If they didn't trust him with the ball, why have him on first line? Stiles was sitting on the bench, bouncing his leg and chewing on the netting of the lacrosse-stick-thingy.

The players took their positions again for the end of half-time (I think) and I noticed Scott's helmet tilt in the direction of the stands. At first I was curious as to what he was looking at, but then Stiles turned around and stare at Alison holding up Jackson's sign.

_That's just cruel. _

Scott turned his head back down again and his back started to noticeably move up and down. The referee was heading out to the center of the field, but he paused to glance at Scott. I frowned in concern. Was he okay? The referee moved on, but kept looking over his shoulder to where Scott continued to pant.

"What do you think is wrong with him?" Erica asked. I shrugged without really thinking. The referee blew the whistle.

This time Scott knocked someone out of the way to get to the ball. A player for the opposing team had already gotten the ball but Scott leapt right in front of them. There was a slight moment of hesitation before the opposing player actually _tossed_ the ball to Scott.

"Did he just deliberately give us the ball?" Erica asked. I nodded my head absentmindedly as I watched Scott tear down the field. Anyone from the opposing team who tried to stop him would stop in their tracks and back away a few steps. Scott paused in front of the goal, swinging his head from side to side.

Suddenly, someone charged at Scott. Scott fired the ball to the goal and—

_Oh my God._

-The ball tore straight through the net.

The crowd went wild and started to rush out on to the field. The scoreboard showed me that we had won the game. But Scott was still standing in front of the goal, staring down at his glove. And then he turned away from the surging crowd of people and ran as fast as he could to the school.

I climbed off of the bleachers to where Stiles was still standing there in shock. When I was within touching distance I reached out and tapped him. Stiles turned around as his shoulders drooped down and his eyes got wider than I ever would've thought they could've gone.

"Tea, what're you doing here? I thought I told you to stay home!" Stiles said in a high-pitched voice that told me that he was faking.

I shrugged and pointed to the torn netting of the goal. Stiles followed my finger and started fidgeting.

"I don't know how that happened?" He said slowly. _He's trying to buy time. _"I'm going to go find Scott now, maybe he can answer your question. What was that, Dad?" Stiles shouted randomly to a man in a sheriff's uniform a few yards away. "Right! I'll be right there! I've got to go, Tea, but I'll see you at school, okay? Bye, Tea!" And before I could even stop him, Stiles had already flown away.

I shook my head at him and started to turn away when Erica caught up to me. "You actually know him?" She asked me shrilly. I laughed and we headed for the parking lot.


	5. 5: Learning to Fall

"How'd you expect that happened?" Erica asked as we gazed in wonder at the torn structure of the bus. I shrugged and struggled to wrap my mind around what must've happened last night.

The weekend had been pretty quiet. I had declared my first week living in Beacon Hills a success and had celebrated by pigging out on a cheese burger from a nearby Five Guys restaurant. I had been faintly surprised when Alison added me on Facebook, but I didn't question it either. Life was starting to become semi-normal.

But then I had entered the school with Erica Monday morning and we had both seen the torn wreckage of a school bus. Blood coated a part of the back section and when you looked inside you could see that several of the seats had been torn to shreds. Heck, the back door had been ripped off from the hinges! All I could think about now was a few irrational scenarios about how this happened.

After gaping at the bus for a full five minutes, the principal and other teachers started escorting the gathering students into the safety of the building. I found Scott and Stiles somewhere in the crowd, but they were gone before I could get their attention.

"I hope they cancel classes today," Erica said absentmindedly. "I've got an essay due in Economics this morning that I did not get around to? Did you have to write one?"

I nodded and pulled out my spiral notebook. I had pretty much just written a bunch of baloney about cigarette taxes. Erica skimmed the title of the essay and groaned.

"I should've done something like that!" Erica started to shift things out of her locker while I returned the notebook back to its place in my backpack. Suddenly, out of breath and looking flustered, Stiles swooped in right next to my shoulder.

"Hey there Tea," He said breathlessly. Erica sucked in her breath at the sight of him. Stiles nodded in her direction. "Hi, Erica. Um, Tea, have you seen Scott anywhere? I kinda lost him; he's looking for Alison—"

"Attention students," The voice of the principal sounded loudly from the intercom directly above the three of us. "I know you're all wondering as to what happened last night to one of our buses, but until the police figure it out, classes will proceed as usual."

There was a collective groan from the hallway and Stiles turned back to me. "So, uh, do you know where he went?"

I smirked and pointed farther down the hall. Scott was standing with Alison. Stiles deflated and spun back around to me. "Thanks a lot, Tea." And then he sprinted off.

Erica also deflated. "Oh my God, I can't breathe." I laughed shortly and headed down the hall to my first class.

* * *

When I entered my chemistry class, Mr. Harris had already prepared a giant amount of notes for us all to copy. I groaned inwardly and found my way to my seat in the back of the class. Scott and Stiles entered a few brief moments later with their heads bent close together in conversation.

"There will be no need to talk," Mr. Harris said sharply. I swore that he was looking at Stiles while he said this. Both boys nodded and sat down to begin their notes.

There was a long moment of dead silence before whispering started to take place in the middle of the class. I raised my head from my paper and narrowed my eyes at Scott and Stiles, both were muttering to each other in what could barely be considered whispers. Mr. Harris heard also and turned around to confront them both.

"Mr. Stilinski," Mr. Harris snapped. I hid the small smile on my face that came from hearing Stiles's actual last name. "Is that your idea of a whisper? If so, I suggest taking the headphones out every now and then."

Stiles let out a half-amused snort and glanced at Scott, possibly for help. Mr. Harris noticed.

"I think that you would both benefit from a little distance."

"No," Stiles said blankly. Mr. Harris narrowed his eyes and motioned for the two friends to separate. Stiles rolled his eyes but gathered his things; Scott did the same.

"Let me know if the distance becomes too much for you," Mr. Harris said smugly. Stiles faked a loud laugh and took the empty seat beside me, leaving Scott to take the only empty seat in front of the class.

I ripped a blank sheet of paper from my notebook and quickly scribbled on it. _Learn how to whisper better next time._ I slid the paper to Stiles.

He read my note and opened his mouth to give me what I knew would be a snarky remark. I quickly pressed my finger against my lips and raised my eyebrows. Stiles rolled his eyes dramatically but grinned all the same. He jotted something down onto the paper.

_I'll try and remember that._

"Hey, I think they found something!" A girl in the front suddenly cried out. The entire class stood up from their seats and rushed to the window to see. Stiles grabbed my jacket sleeve and tugged me along to where Scott stood; and to get a better view. A group of ambulance workers were pulling a stretcher behind them with what looked just like a body on it.

"That's not a rabbit," Scott said quietly to Stiles. I frowned at the statement. What was he-?

The body sprang up and screamed so loud that we could hear it from inside the classroom. I jumped back and yelped along with the rest of the class. I ended up jumping back so far that I bumped into Stiles.

That was the victim from the bus attack, I realized. He was alive, but it still didn't look like a very good state to be in. It all just made me wonder what had happened to him last night.

* * *

Lydia was taking forever to pick out the toppings for her salad. Alison and I were already waiting for her to pick out either croutons or cherry tomatoes when a tall and buff guy named Danny had joined us. Jackson was farther down the line because he had told Danny not to wait up.

"So what do you think attacked that guy?" Danny asked me. I opened my mouth to answer but the burning sensation closed it again. So I ended up shrugging with a shake of my head. Alison noticed and came to my rescue.

She quickly explained my predicament to Danny which was cut short when Lydia decided on getting the cherry tomatoes. "Where are we sitting again, Alison?"

"I told Scott that I'd sit with him today during lunch, so I thought that we could all just sit with him and Stiles." Alison said earnestly. Lydia thought it over and must've deemed it an appropriate idea because she started for where Scott and Stiles were sitting. The rest of us were left to only follow.

I set my lunch tray beside Stiles, but not before raising my eyebrows questioningly. Stiles, though, caught on quickly and nodded while spreading out his hands for me to sit. I did so and Alison sat across from me beside Scott. Danny repeated his question once Jackson "graced" us with his presence.

"I heard it was a cougar," Danny said simply.

"I heard mountain lion," Jackson shot back defiantly. I rolled my eyes; they were the same animal.

"A cougar _is _a mountain lion," Lydia snapped impatiently. I was impressed until Jackson looked at her funny and Lydia followed her fact with, "Isn't it?"

"Who cares," Jackson said curtly. I shook my head at Lydia. _For Christ's sake, if you're smart, be your own person! _From beside me Stiles stiffened and pulled out his phone.

"Who do you think was attacked?" Danny asked, trying desperately to keep the conversation alive. Jackson shot him down again by curling his lip.

"Probably just some hobo looking for his next hit," Jackson said. "Just some nobody,"

"Actually, I just found out who it is." Stiles said loudly, managing to get everyone's attention. He held his phone out in the center of the table and everyone leaned forward to watch the short video talking about how the man had survived the attack and how he was in critical condition.

"I know that guy!" Scott said suddenly. Everyone turned their eyes upward to meet his. "Back when I rode the bus to my dad's house, he was the driver." He said the last part to Stiles directly. I vaguely wondered why that was.

"Can we discuss something more fun?" Lydia asked airily. She was playing with a cherry tomato from her salad. "How about where are we going tonight?" She asked Scott and Alison suddenly. I glanced sharply at Stiles. He saw my look and quickly scribbled on my napkin.

_Date night._

"I'm not spending another night watching lacrosse videos, so we're doing something fun." Lydia continued. "How about bowling? You like to bowl." She told Jackson, who merely scowled at her.

"Yeah, but with actual competition,"

"How do you know we're not actual competition?" Alison shot back at him. She glanced nervously at Scott for a spilt second. "You can bowl, right?"

"Sort of," Scott said quietly and uncertainly.

"Is it sort of or yes?" Jackson asked sharply. I quickly wrote on the napkin and pushed it to Stiles.

_This is not going well. _I heard a small huff of laughter come from him.

Scott leaned forward toward Jackson. "Yes; in fact I'm a great bowler." Stiles groaned from beside me.

A few minutes later the bell rang for the end of lunch. I walked with Scott and Stiles to Economics; I was going over the essay I had done in my head when Scott broke away.

"He didn't answer my question," Stiles said grumpily. Then he turned to me. "Do you think I'm attractive to gay guys?"

_What did I miss here? _I regretted not listening to the two of them talking. Was Stiles attractive to gay guys; I had no idea. He was plenty attractive to Erica and, though it turned my face red to admit it to myself, me. So I just held out my hand and tipped it back and forth in a so-so way. Stiles paused but nodded; apparently satisfied with my answer.


	6. 6: Derek

My last class of the day was AP English. We had just been assigned a project to find a poem to memorize and analyze it via PowerPoint. I had spent majority of the class in the library with the rest of my class. But I decided to leave early when two girls started fighting over "The Road Not Taken".

School was to be over in just over a minute. There were a few other students stalling before the final bell finally rang, so I wasn't completely alone. I walked by Jackson and gave him a small wave and smile. But he just scowled at me and clutched the back of his neck.

_Well, okay then._

As I continued down the hall, I started to notice dark red spots on the floor. I glanced back to where Jackson had disappeared, holding his neck. _Is he hurt? _The bell rang loudly and a tidal wave of students flooded out, but over the sound of their footsteps, a loud groan sounded from the lockers.

I stepped closer and found myself face to face with a dark man hiding in the corner of the lockers and the wall. His face was bent down and his black hair was shining with sweat. He didn't know I was standing there.

I inhaled and reached out for him, for he looked like he was about to pass out. I tapped him on the shoulder. The second my hand came in contact with his shoulder, the man's back straightened immediately and the paleness of his face left dramatically. I drew my hand away in a hurry. The moment I did, the faint color in his face evaporated immediately.

He stared at me with steely hazel eyes that were bright with pain. The look on his face was close to confusion. Feeling awkward, I raised my hand slightly and waved it back and forth a tad.

"What are you?" He asked in a low voice. I blinked at him; surely he meant "who" I was. I flinched as he grabbed me roughly by the shoulders and yanked me forward. "What are you?"

I opened my mouth several times to answer but no noise would come out. Realization flooded into this guy's face. "You can't speak?"

I didn't feel like explaining so I shook my head as fast as I could. He released me and the effect was almost immediate. He started to slump to the ground. I quickly dove down and caught him right before he fell on his face. Once again, his back straightened and he was able to stand.

"Do you know where Scott McCall is?" He asked through the pain. I nodded hurriedly. The man groaned. "Can you take me to him?" I nodded again and started to half-guide him half-drag him outside.

Once outside, it didn't take long for the man to spot a beat up blue jeep. "There's Stiles…" He mumbled. I started leading him in that direction but then Stiles appeared and got into the jeep. "No…" I swear a growl came from this guy's lips.

I was pushed away from him as he stumbled into the parking lot—directly into traffic. I ran after him right as Stiles slammed on the brakes. The man then collapsed onto the concrete.

Some jackass from behind Stiles's jeep started to honk his horn and others quickly followed suit. I met up with Stiles and the man and bent down to both of them. Stiles stared at me with something that resembled fear.

"Tea, what the hell are you doing here?" Stiles asked shrilly over the car horns. Scott started running over from the corner of my eye.

"What is she?" The man asked hoarsely from the street. Scott finally joined us.

"What are you doing here?" He asked in frustration. The man's eyes started rolling and he suddenly snapped his hand out and yanked my arm to his body. I blushed wildly as this guy pressed the back of my hand to his neck.

"I was shot," He mumbled shortly.

"Why aren't you healing?" Scott asked. I threw him a confused look. Stiles tried to nudge me away but the man's grip on me was extremely tight.

"Different type of bullet," The man mumbled before throwing me a side glance. His back straightened and he was able to sit up. "What _is_ she for Christ's sake?"

"Silver bullet?" Stiles asked excitedly.

"No, you idiot!" He snarled, still keeping a firm hold on me. Scott mentioned something about getting him out of here. I carefully helped the stranger up to his feet and Scott helped me force him into Stiles's jeep.

"Tea, you go ahead and head home," Scott said hurriedly. "Stiles and I will explain everything tomorrow." Stiles, who had already climbed into the driver's seat, gave Scott a surprised and angry glare at these words but didn't say anything. I nodded, despite wanting to know more, and started to leave the scene. But then the man's arm snapped out again and returned its painful grip on my arm.

"She stays," He snarled. I watched in horror and amazement as his eyes turned from steely hazel to icy blue. How had that-?

"We don't have time to argue!" Scott exclaimed and he threw me an apologetic look before shoving me into the jeep. I quickly managed to crawl into the back seat and away from the strange man. Scott slammed the door shut and Stiles grumbled, "I hate him so much for this." And then, he floored it and whipped out of the parking lot.

We hadn't even left the school grounds when the man was moaning again. "Girl, get over here now." I didn't move. "NOW!"

"Her name is Tea and you could try saying please!" Stiles snapped at the man. He threw me a glance over his shoulder that begged me to do what this guy said. I swallowed and crept close to the passenger seat. The second I got close enough the man yanked my hand and then just held it close to him.

"Are you going to explain why you're holding a stranger's hand, Derek?" Stiles asked as soon as he saw the situation I was in.

"I can't explain it. She's taking the pain away. Now tell me what she is now!" The man—Derek—snarled at Stiles. I felt so confused and left out. A deep ache started right below my eyebrow somewhere deep in my skull.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Stiles said quickly—too quickly.

"Yes you do! Your pulse just spiked and she smells different from other humans; Scott must've told you this. So answer my question: what in the hell is she?"

Stiles glanced at me with a look of pity and sorrow. "We don't know."


	7. 7: Soldier On

I stared at Stiles. The burning in my throat had ceased to a minimum. "What the hell are you talking about, Stiles?" Derek craned his neck over the seat to look in my direction.

"So you do talk? I expect it hurts though,"

"Stiles, answer me," I ordered. My throat was aching heavily now but I didn't care. I could feel a white hot rage building up inside of me. I had been left out of the loop ever since I met Stiles and Scott, and even Derek. I simply _refused _to be left out of the loop again.

Stiles glanced at me server times but turned away to keep his eyes on the road. He kept silent for a solid five minutes before answering.

"When you first walked into chemistry class, Scott noticed it right away." Stiles began with a shaky voice. Normally, I would've felt sorry for him. But at the moment I wanted answers. "He said something about how you smelled extremely different from everyone else. He said that your scent was, um, bolder, I think. Something about how most humans smell the same and you smelled like, he only said flames and smoke."

"That's what I smell, though I can probably explain it better than you." Derek said softly. "Whatever you are, you're most definitely not human."

I felt my shoulders deflate. If I wasn't human, than what was I? This sounded like something from a sci-fi movie, or supernatural movie at the least. I wanted nothing more than to go and hide somewhere from everyone and everything.

"Aren't you wondering as to why Scott and I can smell you?" Derek asked. He sounded frustrated. I nodded blankly, not really feeling anything at all. Stiles saw my nod and passed the message on to Derek.

Derek then went into a long discussion about werewolves. The moment I heard that word, I started tuning him out. Now I definitely wanted to crawl somewhere and hide. Was anything actually sane anymore? Children were told stories of werewolves and vampires and the like to make them fear the night, but in the end you always knew that they were stories. And it turns out that they were more real than anything else.

"Please stop talking Derek; I think Tea's gone into shock." Stiles interrupted Derek's speech. "Besides we're almost there anyway."

"Almost where?" Derek asked breathlessly. All the talking he had been doing had worn him out, despite tha fact that he was still clutching my hand tightly. I guess my supposedly special powers had flaws.

"Your house," Stiles replied shortly. I could tell that he was angry with Derek. I was angry with both of them.

"You can't take me to my house," Derek said sharply. Stiles rolled his eyes and sarcastically asked why not. "I can't protect myself." Stiles swore into the steering wheel and pulled over.

"You know, I don't think you're in the position to be barking orders." Stiles snapped at Derek angrily. "In fact, with the condition you're in, I could probably drag your little werewolf ass out into the street and leave you for dead!"

"Start the car, or I'm going to rip you're throat out with my teeth." Derek said. Stiles started the car and pulled back on to the road.

We sat in silence for a long time. Stiles was still fuming; Derek started to give off a sour smell; I just remained my seat and thought about worming my hand out of Derek's, but every time I tried, he just tightened his grip. The sun was sinking low in the sky when Stiles pulled up to an animal clinic.

"We can stay here for a while," Stiles said shortly before getting out of the car. He walked around to the trunk and opened it for me. I huffed and managed to work my hand out of Derek's. Then Stiles and I had to help Derek into the clinic.

"Call Scott," I groaned at Stiles. He nodded and started to furiously text his best friend. Derek started batting at my shoulder with a weak hand.

"Help me get my shirt off," He said quietly. I blushed and, suddenly shaking very badly, helped him remove the gray T-shirt from his body. I think I turned redder at the sight of his rock-hard muscles. Stiles noticed and pretended to vomit. I raised my hand and gave him a rude gesture and then it was his turn to turn slightly red.

After a few minutes of waiting for Scott to reply to his text messages, Stiles and I had to drag Derek into another room of the clinic where it looked like the vet checked up on his patients.

Derek's arm was looking like it had already died. The hole where the bullet had entered his arm was surrounded by the veins that had turned black from whatever poison was in Derek's system. I wanted nothing more than to hide away from the gross wound, but Derek was insisting on keeping me close by. He kept pulling me around the room as he fished through the drawers for stuff.

When he finally got what he wanted (a rubber band and a mechanical saw) he led us both to the table in the center of the room.

"Help me tie this on," Derek ordered me. I took a step away from him and crossed my arms. He looked up at me, desperation shining brightly in his eyes. "Please Tea,"

I stepped closer and helped tie the rubber band around his upper arm.

"You don't have to take orders from him!" Stiles said. I threw Stiles a dirty look and finished tying the band.

"So what exactly is your plan B, Derek?" Stiles asked with a hint of sour grapes in his voice. Derek sighed and heavily placed the mechanical saw on the metal table.

"You're going to cut off my arm," He said in a matter-of-fact tone. I shot an alarmed look at Stiles; he looked as terrified as I felt.

Stiles picked up the saw as if it was already coated with blood and pus from the infected wound. He gently pressed down on the trigger and the saw buzzed to life. Stiles groaned and turned it off.

"Oh my God, is there another plan we can use?" Stiles asked desperately. Derek snarled and shook his head, pressing his forehead against the cold metal table. I had an idea of what he wanted me to do, so I went ahead and got into the position of clutching his upper arm. Derek glanced at me with something that looked like gratitude.

Stiles nervously pressed the blade of the saw against Derek's arm, right underneath the rubber band. I closed my eyes and turned away from the scene. Stiles inhaled and started to apply pressure to the trigger.

"What the hell are you doing?" Scott's voice screamed from the doorway. I spun around to face him and he removed a golden bullet from his pocket.

"You just prevented a lifetime of nightmares, my friend," Stiles said, tossing the saw over to the far corner of the room. Derek raised his head slightly as Scott placed the bullet into his hands.

I watched along with Scott and Stiles as Derek unscrewed the bullet and emptied out the powder that was inside of it. He pulled a lighter from the back pocket of his jeans and lit the powder on fire. Sparks erupted from the powder and blue smoke issued from it. Derek scooped the burnt powder into the palm of his hand and, with one fluid motion, slammed it directly into his wound. He lifted his head back and screamed.

More blue smoke flew out from Derek's bullet wound and the black veins in his arm faded away until the entire wound completely vanished. Derek sighed and slumped against the floor, finally relieved of the pain.

"That was awesome!" Stiles exclaimed once everything was done. Scott gave him a sharp look and then turned to me. His face showed nothing but sympathy. Suddenly, I wanted nothing more but to slap that innocent look of his face.

So I did.

Scott looked scandalized and Stiles just stared at me with his mouth wide open. Then Scott struggled to put a smile on his face. "I guess I deserve that,"

I shook my head at him and stalked out of the room. This morning, I was at least semi-normal. Now I was some kind of mythical creature who no one could even put their finger on. I was fuming as I rode a city bus to my neighborhood. My parents would flip if they knew I was sneaking in this late at night, so I climbed on to my room via a tree and snuck in through my window.

I didn't realize until I was already in bed that this was the first night since my accident that I hadn't taken my pills.


	8. 8: Side Effects

I felt like I was running a fever. Heat was pulsing through my body like liquid flames. Yet despite the somewhat intense heat, I felt oddly comfortable. I blinked at the abnormity of all of it and got ready for school.

I walked into my first class, thankful for the fact that I didn't have to see Scott or Stiles until chemistry. I groaned from my seat. After what I learned last night, I wanted nothing more than to hide away from both boys for the rest of my life.

Classes sped by until chemistry. I hesitated outside the door, knowing well enough that those two were already in there, waiting for me to show my face. I got bumped into several times, causing me to stumble forward a tad. The people I bumped into gave me scandalized and bizarre looks before continuing to class, but they all looked over their shoulders at me. I sighed and stepped into chemistry.

"Tea!" Stiles shouted at me from his seat. I frowned at him walked back to my seat in the far back corner. Stiles tried desperately to get my attention, but I forced myself to not even look at him.

Danny glanced up at me as I started to pass him. "Hey Tea, you can come sit with me." I blinked, hesitating. Danny and I had never sat together unless it was during lunch. And usually he sat with Jackson.

Danny must've read my facial expression because he smiled kindly and gestured me over again. "Jackson's not here today; just come one over." I glanced at Stiles, who sat right behind Danny, and sat down.

Mr. Harris walked into the room and began to write some more long and tedious notes on the board. I could hear Stiles tapping on his desk with impatience. He was making me nervous with that stupid and constant noise. I gripped the edge of my desk.

"Danny, can I ask you a question?" Stiles asked suddenly. Danny glanced at me briefly. I shook my head slightly.

"No," Danny replied curtly. That was the good thing about Danny; he was a pretty good friend to have around. Stiles sighed with frustration from behind us.

"Well, I'm going to anyway," Stiles snapped stubbornly. Danny rolled his eyes at me. "Was Lydia in your homeroom today?"

I rolled my eyes as a very unpleasant feeling boiled inside my stomach. Danny answered Stiles in a very clipped voice. "No,"

Stiles chewed on that for a moment before opening his mouth again. "Did Jackson tell you anything about what happened last night?"

Danny hesitated before answering. "No,"

"But you're his best friend," Stiles said stupidly. Then he hesitated before asking, "Are you just being this cold because Tea's pissed at me?"

Danny glanced at me before smiling at me kindly. "Yes," I rolled my eyes at him. Stiles's drumming was continuing, for some reason that noise was stressing me out. My nails had started to sink into the wood of the desk. I prayed that Stiles would just _stop _for the love of God!

"One more question," Stiles said quietly.

"What?" Danny asked, finally impatient with all of Stiles's irritating questions. I started to grind my teeth tightly together.

"Do you find me attractive?"

I could suddenly hear everything in the classroom. The piece of chalk that Mr. Harris was using clicked in a very irritating way; I could hear one girl from the front of the class texting; there was one boy somewhere behind me who was smacking his gum in his mouth; and, of course, the stupid pencil tapping that Stiles was doing.

"Tea, are you okay?" Stiles's voice snapped me out of it. I glanced at him over my shoulder and shifted my hands from their spots on my desk. Stiles looked at where my hands were and his eyes widened to an extreme size. I followed his gaze and felt horrified at what was there.

There were scorch marks from where my hands had squeezed the desk.

I quickly stuffed my hands into my jacket pockets. Mr. Harris turned around from his notes and noticed the odd way I was sitting. "Miss Waid, is there a problem?"

"Yes!" I said quickly, jumping to my feet. "I'm feeling really bad, Mr. Harris. I have to go to the nurse's office." I sprinted from the room without giving him a chance to answer.

I sped-walked through the school. Those looks that the kids who had bumped into me weren't at all weird anymore. I had burned them, simply by touching them. How was that possible? In the back of my mind, there was really only one person who could answer that question.

But where could I find Derek?

It wasn't as hard as I thought it'd be. The Hale mansion on the outskirts of town was infamous and some nice people pointed the way there for me without a second question. So now I was standing in front of the ruins of what must've been an extremely beautiful home.

The wood was burned and blackened and looked like it had been that way for years. I thought to my desk back in Mr. Harris's classroom and tightened my fists in my pockets.

Was Derek even here? What if he didn't even live here anymore? I was skipping school for no reason if that was the case. I sighed and started to walk up to the ruined house. Right when I stepped onto the porch, a shirtless Derek blocked my way inside the house.

"What are you doing here?" He asked curtly. I took a step back.

"Something's happening and I need your help." I said, my fists getting tighter. Derek narrowed his steely eyes at me.

"I can smell it from here," He said simply. "You're burning up and this house is extremely dry. You lose control, my home will go up in flames again."

I stepped completely off the porch after he said that. Derek visibly relaxed. "I don't know what's happening. I figured that you would have an idea about what to do."

Derek blinked at me. "I thought I already made it clear that I have no idea as to what you are. How would I know what to do with you?" His reply stung like a knife and I felt unwilling tears form behind my eyes.

"Yesterday, I was normal but now I'm some sort of freak who, for some reason is about to engulf everything into flames." I told him with frustration dripping off my voice. "I want nothing more than to be normal again, and you're the one who pointed out that I was messed up. You owe it to me to at least try and help me."

There was a pause. Then Derek stiffened and suddenly snatched up my shoulders and dragged me into the house. He stuffed me down a hall and pressed himself up against me.

"Don't make a sound," He hissed into my ear. "If you make one sound I'll rip your throat out."

The door banged open. I stiffened and pressed my back as hard as I could against the wall. It sounded like there were three people inside.

"Is he even home?" One voice asked. There was a slight pause before someone answered.

"Probably burying a bone in the backyard," The first two voices started laughing quietly at their lame joke. They were silenced quickly.

"Really? A dog joke?" This was a woman's voice. "If you're going to make those you should say something like: it's too bad your sister never got around to having her first litter." Derek stiffened and I glanced up at him; his face was contorted into a look of silent rage. "It's a shame she howled like a bitch when we CUT HER IN HALF!"

Derek roared like a monster in my ear and was gone before I could even blink. I heard slamming and the sound of claws meeting flesh right before an electric buzz.

"Well well well," The woman's voice said slyly. I could hear Derek's pained groans from where I was hiding. "Didn't you fill out in all the right places? I don't know whether to kill it or lick it." I stuck my tongue out. Who actually talked like this anymore?

I started to creep out of the back room. Some drive in the back of my head was screaming at me to do so, so as quietly as I could, I started to make my way down the empty hall to the foyer. Derek and the woman were still talking in the living room area.

"Why don't you listen to my words very carefully, Derek?" The woman was whispering. "We…didn't…kill…your…sister. Here that? No upbeats or ticks; just the sound of the cold, hard truth. So why don't you go ahead and tell us who the Alpha is, and all of this can be over." There was a pause. "Unless you don't know who it is either? Isn't that tragic?"

I stood at the edge of the staircase. I could barely see Derek and the woman was holding out a large machine gun. "That just made you next to useless," She said before pointing the gun right at Derek.

Derek had stood up and grabbed my hand faster than I could've believed. As the rain of bullets fell around us, Derek dragged me along with him outside and into the woods. When we finally stopped, he looked miserable and lost.

* * *

**A/N: I know it has been a few days, but what do you guys think about the season three premier? I enjoyed it, and I'm already counting the days until Monday night.**

**I just wanted to ask that.**


	9. 9: Confrontations

"Oh my God," I breathed. It had taken me a good five minutes of trudging through the woods with Derek to realize that I had actually spoken full sentences back there. "I'm talking; I'm actually talking! Derek, I'm talking right?"

"You haven't shut up since the house, so I would say so." Derek said with a snort. I ignored him reached up for my throat. The scar was still there; I could feel the bumpy mark that had dominated most of life. But it wasn't burning at all. I could freaking talk!

"This is amazing! All those things I've never been able to say all locked up inside! You should try not talking; it's maddening!" I began rambling and I finally stopped when I noticed Derek clutching his right hand, the hand he had used to grab mine. "What happened to you?"

"I got burned, thanks to you," Derek snapped. I crept closer and got a good look at his palm. The skin on his palm had turned into a leathery-looking territory of red blisters. A wave of guilt washed over me and without thinking I tried to reach out for him. Derek growled and snatched his hand away.

"My hand will heal itself," He snapped at me. I flinched and nodded, trying to hide the hurt on my face. I started to continue through the woods with Derek close behind me. After a few minutes though, his footsteps started getting slower and slower. Finally, I turned around to face him to see him doubled over and squeezing his hand.

"How's that healing working out for you?" I asked. Derek glared viscously at me.

"It's not, that's what working out," He snarled. I stepped closer to him; Derek snapped his hand again from me. I braced myself and glared back at him.

"You're in pain and for some odd reason your special werewolf powers aren't working, maybe mine are."

"In case you've forgotten," Derek growled deeply. "You're the one who did this to me." I narrowed my eyes at him and stepped up to my tiptoes, as if that would make us the same height.

"Wouldn't it be worth a try?" I asked. Derek hesitated before snarling loudly, much like a real wolf.

"I liked you better when you didn't talk," Derek said in a low voice. I rolled my eyes at him and he held out his burned hand. Very carefully, I reached out and touched one of his fingers, just to see what would happen. The effect was immediate.

Steam rose and Derek's flesh hissed. He roared with pain and I leapt back. Derek opened his mouth, probably to tell me that I just made things worse. But he then gaped at the finger I had touched. I narrowed my eyes at him; what had happened? He held out his hand, palm first, and I saw that his finger was completely healed and was just as pale as it had been before.

I then pressed my palm against Derek's; steam was shot into the air and Derek ground his teeth together in what looked like an extremely painful way. But once I removed my hand, Derek's hand was slightly pink, as if from a simple sunburn.

"How'd you do that?" Derek asked suspiciously. I raised my eyebrows at him.

"Do you really think I know?" I asked. Derek shrugged at that and we continued through the woods in silence.

* * *

Apparently, the school had called telling my parents about how I walked out of chemistry. They were fuming when I managed to walk all the way home. Derek was gone before I could even thank him for walking me home.

"Where in the hell have you been young lady?" My mom asked shrilly as soon as I walked into the living room. I narrowed my eyes at her and allowed my thoughts to wander. This has been the only day that I hadn't taken my pills and suddenly I could talk and burn people just by touching them. Who was the person who always made sure I took my pills? My mom…

"Aren't you going to answer your mother?" My dad asked, his face turning redder than usual. I glared at both of them and remained silent. That only pissed them off more. "Teanna Waid, where the hell have you been? Why did you leave school early?"

"You want to know why?" I asked. Both of their faces froze and for a brief moment, they both looked terrified. "Today a few people bumped into me and it turned out that I ended up burning them. I put scorch marks on my desk in chemistry. And I'm finally talking in full sentences. Call me crazy if I wanted to get away from learning chemical equations and figure what the hell is happening to me!"

They were silent. And they were terrified. I could feel that fear pulsing off of their bodies in waves. My eyes widened as my mind raced and put two and two together.

"You knew?" I asked in a low voice. "You knew about all of this and you never thought to tell me?" My mom took a reluctant step forward.

"Honey, we know that you're mad, but you have to understand." She said nervously. "We had to give you those pills for our own good as well as yours. You burned your father just a few hours after being born!" She glanced frantically at my dad, who lifted his shirt sleeve up to reveal an old burn wound scoring across his flesh.

"Where'd you get the pills?" I asked. My parents glanced at each other and didn't answer immediately. "Where did you get the damn pills?" I repeated. My mom looked at me with something that looked like pity.

"We didn't know what to do with you for the first few years. But this man came to us and offered us those pills; he said that he had known about what you were and prescribed those pills to us."

A new question came to me from this information. "How do you guys even get refills?"

"He gave us ways of contacting him for more pills; apparently he makes them himself. By the time we got the first set of pills, you were attacked by something."

I moved to the armchair and threw myself into it. "Do you even know what attacked me?" My parents glanced at each other before my dad answered this time.

"We have suspicions, but nothing too serious," I looked away from both of them. My life was pretty much a lie. My fists started to clench the arms of the chair; heat started to pulse through my body and into the chair. My mom noticed the growing scorch marks but held her tongue; better the chair gets roasted instead of them.

"Teanna," My dad said slowly. I kept my head down. "Honey, maybe you would feel better if you just got a full night's sleep."

"I don't want a full night's sleep," I snapped. I looked up at them to ask another question but right when I opened my mouth, my dad had already started shoving two more pills down my throat. I coughed and sputtered but it was already too late; the pills were down my throat and the familiar burning sensation started again. I just had enough time to see both of my parents back away before I passed out.


	10. 10: The Animal Clinic

Stiles was pissed off at Scott the next day. Apparently there had been a mountain lion attack last night at the parent-teacher conference. Mr. Stilinski was hurt in the attack and Scoot hadn't done anything about it; also Scott hadn't answered any of Stiles calls the night before. I wrote on a spare sheet of paper telling Stiles to man up and make up with his best friend. I had my own problems to deal with at home.

So my parents got some pills from a _complete stranger _who said he knew about my powers. So, being the idiots they were, they took the pills and forced them down my throat for the past eleven years of my life. Those stupid pills were the reason I had not been able to talk in complete sentences and without them, I could speak properly and I got super fire powers. I was anxious to know what I was, and the only way I was going to do that was if I got rid of the pills.

This morning I had found the bottle of purple pills and I had taken them to the bathroom. Two toilet flushes later, the bottle was empty and the pills gone. Now I just had to get through the day without speaking before I could get back on track.

Stiles and Scott were busy most of the day. I was still sort of peeved at them, but that anger was dying away. Right now the only people I was really angry at was my parents.

I was beginning to get curious as to who was healed and who was burned. I spent the day pretty much going to random people and tapping them on their hands, shoulders, anywhere I could get at their bare skin. I burned only a few people; the people who cheated on their tests and slept around and were jerks to everyone around them. Everyone else I touched instantly looked like a weight had been lifted off their shoulders. I tapped Erica on the shoulder and she instantly brightened and looked much less tired.

My conclusion broke down to something along the lines of: those people with good hearts, they were healed in whatever way (one boy who had recently got into a car wreck started talking about how his bad leg stopped aching); those people who were bad, got singed. One of these people was Jackson.

We had been walking from class when the thought came into my mind to tap his shoulder. So I did. And Jackson had flinched away dramatically as if a white-hot pipe had been pressed down against his neck.

Then I got to thinking about Derek. When I first met him, I had healed him constantly. But when he had grabbed my hand yesterday, he had gotten burned pretty badly. But then I had healed him all over again. Was he gray, instead of the stereotypical black or white? I had no idea, but decided that I had been terrified when we ran. My emotions must've been running extremely high and in that moment I must've burned Derek in what I would've thought was self-defense. It didn't make much sense in my head, but I decided that it was the most reasonable explanation I had.

I went home that to get an immediate text from Scott to meet him at the animal clinic. I was really starting to hate that place, but I dropped my stuff down on the kitchen table and started that way.

When I reached the animal clinic, I noticed that Derek's black car was here too, as was Stiles's old blue jeep. I frowned and entered the animal clinic.

"He's not the Alpha!" Scott was yelling. I stepped into the back room to see Scott facing Derek with an unknown black man tied to a chair. Stiles looked lost and confused and he sighed when I entered the room.

"Tea, thank God you're here," Stiles said breathlessly. Derek and Scott both looked up at me.

"What's she doing here?" Scott asked. I held up my phone and showed him the text. Scoot turned to Stiles. "You texted her, didn't you?"

Stiles nodded. "I figured she could help him with healing," He said, pointing to the black man. Derek snarled.

"She's not helping with anything! He could be the Alpha and if he is we don't need him to be powerful!"

"He's not the Alpha!" Scott yelled again. I stared at the man tied to the chair. For some reason, he looked vaguely familiar, despite the fact that I had never seen him before in my life. I reached out and briefly poked his face, ignoring Derek's growling. The cuts on the man's face sealed themselves up and his brown eyes flickered open. When they saw me, they widened slightly before a small smile etched upon his face.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Miss Waid," He said in a tired voice. Suddenly, Derek's fist came out of nowhere and hit the man hard on the head. I backed away and spread my arms in questioning at Derek. In response, he glared furiously at me.

"Derek just give us some time to prove that he's not the Alpha," Scott said, actually pleading with Derek. Derek snorted and gave his permission, but only if the man stayed with him. Scott agreed and dragged Stiles and me away from the animal clinic.

"Where are we going?" Stiles asked, echoing my thoughts exactly.

"The school," Scott said in a hurry. "I have an idea on how to get the real Alpha to come out of hiding."

* * *

**A/N: I've been reading the comments and I'm super duper happy that people are generally enjoying this story! Keep those reviews coming!**

**I'm also aware of how I've been dragging out on revealing what Tea is, but don't fret, you'll realize what Tea is soon enough.**

**Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, favorited, alerted (?). Y'all are awesome and I love writing this story because of y'all.**

**That's all I'm going to say right now. See y'all later! :)**


	11. 11: The Alpha

Stiles drove us to the school. Scott quickly texted Derek telling him to get his werewolf butt to the school. I just sat in the back and wondered how I got into this situation. Finally, after what must've been twenty minutes, Derek's fancy black car pulled up right behind Stiles's jeep. I crawled out of the back to stand between Scott and Stiles.

"What'd you do to Deaton?" Scott asked. Derek jerked his thumb to the back of the car. I had to duck to see the man from the animal clinic hog-tied in the back of Derek's car. I shook my head and gave Derek a pointed look. He narrowed his eyes and me and proceeded to ignore me.

"Why am I here, Scott? We've already caught the Alpha," Derek said smugly, gesturing to the back of his car again. Scott looked like he wanted to seismic toss Derek into the woods.

"Deaton can't be the Alpha; he just can't." Scott said with exasperation. "Look, we have a plan to bring the real Alpha here."

"We do?" I managed to choke out. Scott threw me a fast look and started to lead the way into the school. I glanced at Stiles, who shrugged and we both marched after Scott. Derek was left alone in the parking lot.

Stiles managed to break into the school rather easily, and Scott led the way into the attendance office where the intercom was hooked up. He grabbed the intercom nervously and started to roll his head around his shoulders, as if he was prepping himself up for something. Stiles took the other side of the desk and we both waited for Scott to do his werewolf thing.

Scott pushed down the button and let out what he must've thought was a howl. In reality, it reminded me of someone strangling a cat. The noise echoed around the campus and was loud enough for anyone within a few miles to hear it. Scott pushed the microphone away and looked at me and Stiles.

"Well? Did that sound like a howl?"

Stiles glanced at me before moving his head from side to side. "Well…"

Scott narrowed his eyes at Stiles. "What did it sound like to you?" Stiles sighed.

"Like a cat being choked to death, Scott," Stiles said quietly. I pointed to Stiles while placing a finger on the tip of my nose. Scott heaved a sigh and brought the microphone close again. Then he pressed down the button.

The next sound out of his mouth did not sound like regular wolf howl. But then again, Scott wasn't a regular wolf. It sounded more like a roar; like some kind of big cat's roar. When Scott was finished, I gave him thumbs up and nodded my head. Scott smiled and laughed slightly before we all headed back outside to Derek.

Derek was unhappy when he got back outside. "What the hell was that? Are you trying to wake up the whole town?"

"I know what it was," Stiles said. "It was _awesome_!" I had to agree with Stiles on that one.

"Shut up," Derek snapped. I had to resist laughing from these two at each other's throat.

"Don't be such a sour-wolf," Stiles said in a smug voice right back. Scott then asked where Deaton was. Derek quickly looked in his car to discover that Deaton was gone. Just as he straightened back up, I saw it.

The Alpha was bigger than I thought it'd be. It looked to be the size of a small car with blood-red eyes. Those eyes looked so familiar. I realized with a jolt that they looked like the red lights I had seen right before being attacked. Had it been an Alpha that attacked me? Those thoughts were put on hold though as the Alpha started to sprint towards us.

"Uh…um…" I sputtered, struggling to speak. My throat was closed off, the burning sensation extremely uncomfortable. I started to drum on the nearest shoulder—Stiles—and pointed to where the Alpha was charging. Stiles shrugged me off.

_Look up God dammit!_

It was too late. The Alpha came up right behind Derek and drove his claws into Derek's back. I watched in horror as Derek was lifted up from the ground, dark blood spurting from his mouth, and thrown across the lawn of the school and crashed into one of the second story windows. Stiles and Scott screamed from beside me and I felt someone snatch my hand—Stiles, I think—and start to drag me to the school. I quickly fell in line and shot past my rescuer—I was right; it was Stiles—and I was the one to drag him into the safety of the school.

Scott and Stiles quickly back-tracked and held the doors closed. I noticed Stiles staring at his hand and looked down at my own. Was it possible that I burned him even under the influence of those pills? My question was answered when Stiles looked up at me and held out his hand to show me.

His hand was just as badly burned as Derek's had been. The skin on his palm was shiny yet leathery looking as well. I could make out several small and red blisters sprouting on the edges of his palm. Stiles glanced nervously at me before pressing his hand against mine again. But his reaction was so different then Derek's.

While Derek's wound had spat steam and had sizzled and burned, Stiles seemed to get a cooling effect on his wound. His entire face relaxed and when he pulled away, the wound was completely healed.

Derek. I stared up at the ceiling to the second floor. He was up there somewhere, either dying or badly wounded. There was a savage light inside of em that refused to let him die. Scott and Stiles were talking in hushed voices. Without thinking about the consequences, I jogged away from them and up the nearest flight of stairs.

It wasn't hard to find where Derek had crashed in. The room was littered with broken glass and, in the center of the wreckage, Derek was sprawled out in an unnatural angle. His legs were spread out and bent unevenly, as if he had broken those. The same could be said for his arms. He looked already dead.

Why had I come up here knowing that there was a very good chance that he was already gone? I was about to turn my back and go back to Scott and Stiles when a bright red glow came from the corner of my eyes. I looked down to see my hands glowing red and orange. A wave of panic rose and threatened to choke me, but the burning in my throat was gone and some rash and unknown instinct was urging me to try and heal Derek.

I stepped closer and knelt down to Derek's level. The glowing just intensified. I took a breath and, without knowing what would happen, poked Derek gently on the face. The glow left my hand and spread itself onto Derek's entire body. I stood back up, some primal instinct telling me that my work was done and that the glow would do its job. I crept back out of the room.

Scott and Stiles weren't in the main hall where I had left them. With a wave of guilt and panic I realized they must've gone looking for me. I started to wander down a hall and started hearing something behind me. I turned around to see a wolf the size of a small car right at the end of the hallway.

I quickly bolted into an empty classroom and made a move to close the door. But the door was swiped off of its hinges; the Alpha was right in front of me. I backed right up to the window, the Alpha getting closer and closer with each step. I pressed my back against the window and closed my eyes, willing the Alpha to get it over with.

But death never came. I risked opening my eyes again to see the Alpha standing right in front of me, looking as puzzled as I did (or as puzzled as an animal face could look). It didn't move, t just stood there and looked at me with those great, big red eyes. It blinked, and with a huff of foul breath, it turned tail and sprinted off. I slumped down against the wall, out of breath.

Why hadn't it killed me?

* * *

**A/N: Once again, I know that it's been a few day, but what y'all think of the episode from Monday? **

**I have many questions bouncing around in my head, one of them has to be why isn't that Alpha woman ever wearing shoes? I would feel slightly more comfortable about the Alphas if she just wore some stinking shoes. And also, Lydia gave me a heart attack at the end of the episode. What is going on?**

**Let me know what you thought in the comments (or reviews, whatever you prefer to call them)!**


	12. 12: Night School

I stepped carefully out of the classroom I had been hiding in for the past fifteen minutes. The Alpha had left me alone. Yes, it had run me down and cornered me into a classroom, but I had been well within its reach. If it had wanted to, it could've killed me without trouble. Why didn't it?

I walked farther into the hall, still shaking from the Alpha. Suddenly, I heard footsteps somewhere in front of me. I snapped my head up to see someone who looked human. Was it Derek? I opened my mouth to call out to them, but they beat me to it.

"Tea?" It was Jackson's voice. I sped up and found myself face to face with Jackson. _What the hell are you doing here?_

"What the hell are you doing here?" Jackson barked at me. I narrowed my eyes at him and raised my eyebrows in an obvious response of; _I should be asking you the same question._

"Whatever," Jackson said with anger in his voice. "Do you even know where Scott and Stiles are? The only reason we're here is because of them."

_"We're?" _I said loudly. My throat burned in protest but I forced down the feeling as a tidal wave of panic started to sweep over me. Who else was here besides Jackson?

"Yeah, 'we'," Jackson said as if I was slow. "As in me, Lydia, and Alison. Scott texted Alison to come to the school. Lydia is in the bathroom and Alison went off on her own to find Scott."

I knew Scott well enough to know that he would never put Alison in danger like this. Someone else must've texted her, but who? Jackson raised his pale eyebrows in frustration at me.

"Aren't you going to help us find them?"

_Honestly, how does Lydia even stand you sometimes?_

I got my answer as a door farther down the hall opened and Lydia walked out.

"Oh hey Teanna, you're here too? Do you know where the idiots are so that we can all go home?" Lydia asked me. I shook my head and started down the hall with Jackson and Lydia close behind me. I suddenly got the idea of Derek. Last I saw him, he was encased with that glowing red and orange stuff that had come off of my hands. What else was happening to him?

I turned sharply to the right and swung the classroom door where Derek was supposed to be in. I gaped at what I saw; or what I didn't see.

"Is there a reason we're staring at an empty classroom?" Jackson asked me rudely. I gave a jerk of my head and closed the door. Derek wasn't there. Had he gotten away? Wherever he was, I hoped he was safe…

"Hey, Tea!" Jackson's voice removed me from my thoughts. "How 'bout we actually try to get out of here? We can ponder about class once we're in the car." Jackson then started down the hall with Lydia and without me. I waited a few moments before running after them.

"How about we call Alison and just leave?" Lydia asked. It was obvious that she was talking to Jackson and not me, but I quickly nodded in agreement and Lydia pulled out her phone and dialed Alison's number. It was an anxious few seconds for me until Alison answered her phone and agreed to meet us in the school's lobby.

"Alright, let's head on out," Lydia announced after hanging up. I quickly jogged to lead the way; not trusting Jackson or Lydia to lead and possibly make a wrong turn. Last thing we needed was someone getting hurt tonight.

We were doing fine until I caught a glimpse of something large and hairy at the far end of a hall waiting for us. I quickly turned on my heel and led Jackson and Lydia down four more halls. It took us ten extra minutes to get down to the lobby of the school, where we saw Alison, Scott, and Stiles already there.

I sighed in relief and charged to Stiles's side. He looked like he wanted to rant to me but in the end I think he decided to save it for later.

"Finally," Lydia said with a huff. "Can we go now?"

Almost directly after she said that, there were some muffled sounds happening from the roof. _The Alpha, it's in the ceiling._

Judging by Scott's alarmed expression he knew it too. "Run!" He said. Scott led us all out of the lobby right as the Alpha burst through the roof.

My legs burned from the running and my heart seemed like it was going to burst from my chest. I panted and involuntarily started thinking about the last time I ran like this. But that time I had been in the woods alone and I still have no idea what was after me.

Stiles got in the lead and crashed into a pair of double doors. Everyone piled in after him and I pushed the door shut with Scott and Jackson on either side of me. Scott and Jackson started to stack the chairs of the room to block the door. I quickly joined in and Alison and Lydia followed suit. We only stopped when Stiles had to yell for our attention.

"Alright," He said with sarcasm dripping from his voice. "Nice work everyone, really beautiful job. Now what are we going to do about the twenty-foot wall of windows?" He made a wide gesture to the, correctly measured, twenty-foot wall of windows.

"Can someone please explain to me what's going on, 'cause I'm freaking out here?" Alison asked, looking directly at Scott. "I'd like to know why. Scott, please…"

Scott jumped away from her and away from the crowd. He looked like he was ready to bolt. I felt a faint stab of pity for him, but that pity was forced down by the fear that was mounting in my chest. Jackson, Lydia, and Alison were all looking at him for answers. I just stood beside Stiles and vaguely wondered what he was planning on saying to them.

"Somebody killed the janitor," Stiles said quietly. I gave him a sharp look and Lydia looked like she was trying to hold back tears.

"What do you mean somebody killed the janitor?" Jackson asked, trying to find some kind of reasonable explanation other than murder.

"The janitor's dead," Stiles said even more sharply. Alison shook her head fast.

"Is this some kind of joke? Who would kill the janitor?" Alison asked. They were looking at Scott again. They were frightened and wanted someone to explain everything and to tell them that everything would be okay. I looked at Scott too; I wanted to know how he was going to explain the Alpha to them, since it was clearly the time to do so.

"It was Derek," Scott said finally. I raised my eyebrows at him and glared hard. "Derek Hale did it; he killed the janitor."

_No he didn't. _I wanted to tell Scott that blaming Derek may be the easiest thing to do, but it wasn't the wisest. Derek was obviously still alive and if Scott told that statement to the police, he would be a wanted man. But then again, Scott and Stiles both thought that Derek was dead.

"Why would Derek Hale kill the janitor?" Jackson asked sharply. Scott shook his head violently and turned away again.

"I don't know," Scott said quickly. "I just know that if we go out there, he's going to kill us."

"Us? He's going to kill us?" Lydia asked in a very high voice.

"Are you sure?" Alison asked. Scott turned back to the group of scared teenagers.

"I saw him kill the janitor," Scott said roughly.

"All of them," Alison asked. "The bus driver…"

"Yes, his sister, the bus driver, the guy in the video store, all of them!" Scott said shrilly. He was as scared as the rest of us. "It's been Derek the whole time. And if we don't get out now he's going to kill us too!"


	13. 13: Don't Leave

"Call the cops," Jackson said curtly after a brief moment of silence. He looked directly at Stiles while he said this, knowing as well as the next person that Stiles's dad was the sheriff. Stiles looked Jackson firmly in the eye before refusing. "What do you mean no?" Jackson asked with impatience in his voice.

"I mean no!" Stiles snapped. "You wanna hear it in Spanish? _No. _Derek killed three people already we don't know what he's armed with."

"Your dad is armed with an entire Sheriff's department, call him!" Jackson retaliated. Lydia and Alison both nodded at Stiles. I glanced between the two parties; Scott was still freaking out in the corner. Stiles glared Jackson down.

"I'm calling," Lydia said angrily. She reached into her purse and Stiles quickly tried to stop her but Jackson got him out of the way. Scott rushed forward to stand beside his best friend. Lydia made contact with the police.

"Yes, we're at Beacon Hills High School and we need your help," Lydia said quickly. She frowned and a crease came in between her eyebrows. She removed the phone from her ear. "She hung up on me."

"The police hung up on you?" Alison asked doubtfully. I frowned at Lydia and her phone, now hanging limply at her side.

"She said that there was already a tip about some teenagers going to prank call about a break-in at the high school. She said if I call again then she's going to trace it and arrest me." Lydia sounded scandalized.

"Then call again!" Alison said, growing impatient.

"No, they won't trace your cell," Stiles said. "They'll send a car to your house before they send one here."

Alison buried her face in her hands. "This doesn't make any sense! Why would Derek want to kill us? Why is Derek killing anyone?"

Everyone suddenly turned to Scott. Jackson, Alison, and Lydia were all looking for answers and right now, Scott seemed like the guy who would have them. He noticed the new attention and stared back at all of them.

"Why is everyone looking at me for?"

"Is Derek the one who sent the text?" Lydia asked.

"Is Derek the one who tipped off the police?" Alison asked.

"I don't know!" Scott yelled. Stiles quickly pushed his buddy away from them and back into the corner. Their heads bent close together to let me know that they were talking about options to get us out of here. All of us, I thought warily, looking at the other three.

Finally Jackson lost all patience. "Alright ass-heads," He said loudly and angrily. "How about Stiles calls his dad and we all go home? Are we all good with that?" He turned and addressed me, Alison, and Lydia. Alison nodded quickly and Lydia looked directly at Stiles, as if willing him cooperate. I took a sidestep away from them and planted myself with my back against the windows.

Stiles looked lost for a moment. Then Scott spoke up. "Jackson's right; tell him the truth if you have to but just call him."

Stiles leaned forward towards Scott and said, loud enough for me to hear, "I'm not watching my dad get eaten alive."

Jackson huffed with anger. "That's it; give me the phone!" He started for Stiles, but Stiles whipped around and, surprisingly, threw a punch aimed straight at Jackson's jaw. His fist met its mark and Jackson was knocked to the ground. Alison dived to Jackson and helped him stand up straight. I risked a glance at Lydia; her eyes were slightly burning with jealousy.

Stiles pulled out his phone from his pocket and held it up to his ear. I felt a faint stab of pity for him and gave him a slight nod of my head for encouragement. Stiles nodded back and started talking to the other line of the phone.

"Hey, Dad, it's me…and it's your voicemail." Stiles said gloomily. Lydia threw him a sharp look and everyone turned to see that Stiles had the same scared expression on his face as well. "Look I need you to call me back now, like right now." All of a sudden, the doors that we had blocked so well started to bang. The Alpha was trying to get in. I felt an icy wave of cold sweep over me and Stiles finished his message to the sheriff. "Listen, Dad we're at the school. Dad, we're at the school."

And then he hung up.

We made it out of there and into the stairwell right as the Alpha exploded into the room. Scott and Alison led the way up the stair and into a deserted hallway. "This way!" Scott yelled as he crashed into the chemistry labs.

We all filed in and hid beside the door after Scott sat a wimpy metal chair up against the doorknob. I stood in between Alison and Jackson. Alison was gripping the shoulder of my jacket and Jackson had his hands clenched on the lab desks. Footsteps sounded from right outside the door as the Alpha passed by. It sounded like it hesitated right when it got to our door but it continued on its way. I vaguely wondered if it had to do with what made it stop from killing me earlier.

Alison released me as Scott turned to Jackson and asked him about his car. Apparently, not all of us would be able to fit. Then Scott eyes got wide as he glanced from the dead-bolt locked door in the back of the room to the door we were guarding.

"I can go to the janitor's body and get the keys." Scott said quietly. He looked first at Stiles and then at me. "You both _know _that I can do this."

_That sounds like a terrible idea!_

"I'm getting the key," Scott said firmly. Alison looked devastated as Scott walked up to her. "It's the best plan. I just need something to out there with."

"There is," Lydia said in a matter-of-fact tone of voice. She looked pointedly at the pantry where Mr. Harris kept all of his chemicals. "A fire-bomb; in there you have everything you need to make a self-igniting cocktail."

Everyone stared at Lydia with a look of disbelief, but none more so than Jackson. He looked like Lydia had betrayed him by being smart. Lydia looked at all of the doubting faces and shrugged. "I read about it somewhere."

Jackson quickly broke into the pantry and Lydia got to work. She mixed up the chemicals like a pro and I made a mental note to ask her for pointers. She had Jackson hand her some sulfuric acid and once that was added, she handed the mixture to Scott and gave him easy directions to make it work.

"No," Alison said shortly. "Scott you can't do this. You can't go out there."

"We also can't wait here for Stiles's dad to check his messages," Scott replied.

"Scott, please, do you remember when you said that you could tell when I was lying, that I had a tell?" Alison asked. Scott hesitated before nodding. "So do you," Alison said, barely holding back tears. "You're a horrible liar and you've been lying all night."

I saw Jackson smirk like he was celebrating a victory. I glared at him and made sure that he saw. For which he just shrugged at me. I shook my head.

"Please, Scott, just don't go," Alison said, her tears now freely streaming down her face. Please don't leave us, please."

Scott turned to Stiles and said softly, "Lock up behind me,"

And then he was gone.


	14. 14: An Ancient Chain

The burning in my throat was lessoning. I could feel it almost as soon as Scott left. Five minutes afterwards, I could feel all the new senses I had for that one day rush back to me. I sat down at my usual desk and rested my chin on the desk. Chipping paint at the edges kept my attention until Jackson asked, "Why the hell happened to my desk?"

I looked up to see him inspecting the scorch marks I had left a few days ago. I smirked and shared a self-satisfied glance with Stiles, who rolled his eye but failed to hide his happy smirk.

Alison was crying from a desk. Stiles and I would glance at each other every so often, trying to will the other to say something helpful. But I was temporarily mute and Stiles just had no idea what to say to a girl who's boyfriend and thrown himself into the thick of the fight. And so Alison continued to be on her own.

"Jackson," Lydia said suddenly. I looked up her; she was double-checking the bottles of chemicals she had used to create Scott's fire-bomb thingy. "Did you hand me sulfuric acid?"

"I think so," Jackson said. "Why?"

"The fire-bomb won't work unless it was sulfuric acid." Lydia said with worry starting to creep into her voice. Alison had looked up and fear was flaring in her face dramatically. I saw Jackson's Adam's-apple bob up and down before he finally answered.

"Yeah, I'm sure it was that acid." He told Lydia. She nodded and dropped the subject but I got a sick feeling in my stomach. I started hoping that Scott really did have the right combination before he tried to throw that stuff at the Alpha.

"He left us," Alison said in a petrified voice. I looked over to her and felt a stab of pity. "I-I can't stop my hands from shaking!"

"It's okay," Jackson said in a voice that was so gentle I never would've imagined that Jackson could have said it. Jackson then enfolded his hands on top of Alison's. Lydia's eyes flashed but she said nothing.

Suddenly, there was a scream and I jumped as Jackson fell to the floor screaming and clutching the back of his neck. I leaped from my seat, ready to put some healing powers to action but Stiles held up a hand for me to stop. I realized why: if Jackson's wound, whatever it was, suddenly healed, he would freak out. So I kept back and allowed Alison and Lydia to help Jackson get to his feet.

"Seriously, I'm fine!" Jackson growled. The others let go of him. Stiles was squinting at Jackson's neck.

"What's on the back of your neck?" He asked, reaching out to see what it was. Jackson slapped Stiles's hand away and my eyes met Stiles's.

Suddenly there was a faint clicking noise they told us that the door had been unlocked.

Alison whipped around and dove for the door, anxious to see if it was Scott. She tried extremely hard to open the door but whoever was on the other side was holding it firm. Alison started screaming for Scott. Lydia looked wildly frightened but then she screamed.

"Wait! Everyone listen!"

We did. And there, very faint in the distance, was the unmistakable sound of police sirens. I ran for the window and everyone behind me quickly followed suit. We watched in brief happiness as several police cars with flashing lights pulled into the parking lot.

* * *

I didn't fall asleep that night very easily. I tossed and turned so many times that I ended up lying in bed for four straight hours before I could venture off into sleep. Next thing I knew, I was in the woods.

Unlike the dark and forbidding woods of my nightmares, these woods were bright. Golden light shone down from between the thick canopy of green leaves and soft dark green moss coated the forest floor. I suddenly became aware that I was not alone.

I saw a little girl there. She looked to be around nine years old and wearing a thin white cotton dress. She had shoulder length brunette hair, so much different from my dark honeyed colored hair. Her round blue eyes shone at me and without a word she reached out her hand for me to take.

Without really thinking, I took her hand; it radiated warmth. She started to lead me away from our little grove of trees and towards what looked like a pearly white mansion. I blinked and scolded myself for not noticing it before.

The mansion was white and had a porch that wrapped around the whole house. It looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn't remember ever seeing a house like this. The little girl silently led me inside and my jaw dropped.

Physically, it was impossible. Right when you entered the house, there was a grand staircase that went so far up you couldn't see the top. It wrapped around the wall and I realized that there were other people here. Other women, varying from all sorts of ages stood on the staircase. All of them were smiling widely at me and looking extremely happy that I was there. One woman who looked around seventy years old was actually weeping with joy. The little girl left my side to stand at the foot of the staircase, looking like she was about to lead the infinite line of women out the door.

Out of thin air another woman formed. But she was different from the others. She seemed much more ancient and powerful. Her pale golden hair fell to her waist and she had smoky blue eyes that commanded attention. She was dressed in all white and it reminded me of what princesses in ancient Greece had worn. The woman smiled widely at me and walked forward, almost like she was floating.

"Welcome, Teanna Waid," She spoke, and it sounded as if every single woman in the room spoke with her, though their mouths remained smiling and silent. "We have waited for your arrival for years."

"Am I dead?" I asked the first thing that came to my mind. The woman laughed softly and it reminded me of tinkling bells.

"No, Teanna, you are very much alive. You have much to do before you join us here."

"Where exactly is here?" I asked. The woman looked up at all the women perched on the stairs.

"This is where we go when it's time for us to move on. One day you will stand here, and when the next generation is ready for us, you will guide her here just as your previous generation has guided you here tonight."

I looked to the little girl who had brought me here. She smiled back at me and I felt a chill go up my spine. She was really dead? Without thinking, I rubbed at the scar on my throat. The woman in front of me saw it and sighed.

"A sad event no doubt," She stated sadly. "Our species cannot defend itself and you were ambushed before you even knew what you were." I stared at her.

"Do you know what attacked me that night?" She nodded sadly.

"I cannot tell you of it yet; it is something you must remember on your own. But do not fret, my child, the creature that failed to take your life is suffering a life that his species should not."

I stared at her and blinked. "What's your name?" The woman blinked.

"It has been so many years since my name has been used, dear Teanna. But if you must call me something, call me Hestia. She was known as the goddess of the hearth and the goddess of home back when I was still alive."

I nodded. Hestia would work. I opened my mouth to ask her the question that had been haunting me for the past few days. "What am I, Hestia?"

Hestia smiled sadly. "Someone you have met already holds the answer, and he is the one destined to inform you. I'm sorry, my child. You will face many horrors in the coming years, but with a proper family at your side, you will thrive." She held my face between her hands and gently kissed my forehead. "Be strong, Teanna Waid, the blood of the Pure Fire runs through your veins." She locked her smoky blue eyes with my clear blue eyes and whispered. "We will always be with you."

I woke up feeling as though my veins had been set on fire.


	15. 15: Clarity

I walked down the halls at school, rubbing my eyes and thinking back to what Hestia had told me a few nights ago. She had told me that my species, whatever it is, couldn't defend itself. What kind of creature was that? Every mythical monster I could think of could defend itself in one way or another.

Another thing that was on my mind was what Hestia had said about the monster that had attacked me when I was young. He was now living a life that his species shouldn't live. What the hell did that mean?

And where was Derek? He was now, as I had predicted, a wanted man and the police were searching for him. This morning at school, I had dragged Stiles and Scott into a spare broom closet and told them about what I had done to Derek. Stiles's face was astonished and Scott looked sick knowing that he had successfully framed an innocent man.

"But how do you know he's alive?" Scott asked. I rolled my eyes at him.

"I'm sure that dead people don't just stand up and start walking, Scott." I said. Then I thought about a show I had recently gotten addicted to on Netflix. "At least I hope they don't."

Scott and Stiles had responded quite well with what I had told them about my newfound ability to speak. I told them about my parents getting those pills and what I had found out about burning people. I then told them about what I dreamed about on the night of our night school session.

Stiles was frowning by the time I finished. "So someone already knows what you are? Do you know who it is?"

I shook my head. "I wish I did. Otherwise I would be talking to them and not here with you two." Stiles just nodded; he looked like he was thinking about my predicament really hard.

We had to go to class then and we were forced to separate. I could barely concentrate in any of my classes and just like last time, I could hear almost every little thing happening in that room. Someone was secretly texting in the back row and someone was chewing gum very loudly in the first row. I quickly excused myself from the class and hid inside the girls' bathroom.

I sat in a stall and buried my face in my hands. It was hard to believe that just a few weeks ago I was at least semi-normal. Sure, I could hardly speak a word but I was the type of person who spent hours on the Internet, I liked burying my nose in a good book. Now here I was hiding from the sounds of my classmates in the bathroom, apparently caught up in some mythical monster wipeout.

_Pull yourself together, young one._

I snapped my head up and looked around for Hestia, but she wasn't anywhere in sight. I was hearing her voice in my head…

_Tonight is a dangerous night for more than just one. A dead man is rising; it's vital that you keep strong for all of those around you._

The presence I had felt when Hestia had spoken was gone now. I sighed and thumped the back of my head against the wall and closed my eyes. Then I huffed, stood up, and went back to class.

* * *

The next few days were spent with me trying to pull my life as together as I could make it. I actually did my homework and finished my project for English. My parents noticed and tried to talk to me, but I quickly escaped and locked myself in my bedroom. They had lost the right to be my parents.

Almost as soon as I hit my head against the pillow that night, I was transported into a familiar dark and forbidding forest. I peered around; moonlight streaming through the dark canopy overhead. I swallowed as a long growl sounded from behind me. I turned around.

I had suspected it. An Alpha werewolf was crouched just a few tree lengths away. It looked more wolf than man and I briefly thought that it had to do with it being an Alpha. It sprang and I felt its claws score down my throat. Blood poured down my throat just as I remembered, but instead of blacking out or waking up, I was instead surrounded by a spiral of flame and this time I perfectly heard this Alpha's screams of pain. I jolted awake.

* * *

I was walking down the hallway the next day, tired as crap when Stiles jumped out of nowhere and dragged me into a broom closet.

"Stiles? What? Why are we in here?" I asked in a hush. Stiles threw his backpack to the ground and fished through it for a second before shoving a book into my hands. He panted and pointed at it.

"I was looking through the city library yesterday. It's a guide on rare mythical creatures. I think I found what you are in there." Stiles said, short of breath.

I felt my heart stop and threw my own backpack to the ground before flipping the book open. "Where is it?"

"Page hundred and fourteen," Stiles said shortly. I flipped to the said page, pictures of fairies and black dogs and mist monsters flew past my eyes until I finally reached what I was looking for. Stiles watched me scan the page.

There was an elaborate drawing on the page and it showed a golden haired woman standing side-by-side with a large, eagle-sized bird with gold and scarlet plumage. I started when I recognized Hestia as the woman from the page. And the bird next to her was a…

"A phoenix?" I whispered. Stiles nodded.

"Technically, only the bird is a phoenix. You're what they call a phoenicis." He leaned forward and pointed to the word, written in bold at the top of the next page. "It's the Latin word for phoenix, so I guess you're a human version of a phoenix."

"A human version," I breathed and scanned the page. What had been happening to me for the past few weeks started to make more sense. I nodded slightly to myself and read the page. "There's a legend that goes with it."

"Yeah," Stiles said quietly. "I think I must've read over it a thousand times." He gently took the book from my hands and positioned it so that he could read it. "'The phoenicis is a creature dating back to ancient Greece, when the legendary phoenix supposedly died.'"

"I thought phoenixes never died though," I said. "I thought they just reincarnated or something."

"Yeah, but according to legend, sometime around the Trojan War the last phoenix was hunted down and nearly killed for good. Apparently there's only one real way to kill a phoenix, and that one was almost killed permanently. So some princess from Troy took it in secretly and helped heal it."

"Does anyone know who this 'princess' was?" I asked. Stiles shrugged.

"The know-it-all at the library ranted at me for almost an hour about how it was Helen of Troy, but I don't know."

"What happened next?" I asked, leaning forward slightly. Stiles looked down at the book again.

"In return for her help, the phoenix granted her powers so that she would never die. And in that, she became the first phoenicis."

I thought to Hestia. If the guy in the library with Stiles was right, then that meant that she was _the Helen of Troy_. I pressed my palms against my temple and rubbed hard. Every single woman in that dream of mine had been a phoenicis. I was the most current generation.

"What else does it say?" I asked, looking back up at Stiles. He sighed and swallowed.

"I was going to mention that," He said slowly. "But I got the book this way." He flipped the page over and the next three pages bore the marks of someone ripping them out. I felt my stomach sink. But at the same time, a prickle of unease settled in my stomach. The tears looked fresh.

Someone was trying hard to keep what I was a secret.

* * *

**A/N: I apologize for not posting in forever, but I have had a minor dose of writer's block and my family and I moved houses, so my computer was down ALL WEEK. Anyway, I'm going to be posting more so be ready! Yay!**


	16. 16: Seed

I really wish that Stiles had chosen to share his book with me at the _end _of school. I was extremely distracted during class and with my shaking hands, I accidentally knocked over a pile of books onto Scott's foot.

"Sorry, Scott," I muttered. Scott groaned and straightened back up, his super werewolf healing powers fixing him up. "Did Stiles tell you about what he told him earlier?"

Scott nodded. "Yeah, he showed me the book before lacrosse practice. One thing keeps bothering me though." I snapped my eyes up to Scott from picking up those books.

"What's that?"

"If someone went to that trouble to tear out those pages, why would they leave the introduction to it still in there?" Scott asked. I frowned and mulled that over.

When Scott mentioned it like that, it made disturbing sense. Someone, or something I added thinking about the Alpha, had ripped out the main details of the phoenicis. If they really hadn't wanted me to know about it, why wouldn't they have just ripped all of it out? It was starting to confuse and scare me and it must've shown on my face because Scott quickly changed the subject to my AP Literature project. I numbly told him about it, not really into it. I could tell by the look on Scott's face that he was regretting bringing it up.

Then Scott said, "I found Derek." I snapped my attention back to him. A flood of questions started to leak from me. Was he okay? Was he pissed at us because we technically framed him for several accounts of murder? Scott finally shut me up by tossing a pencil at my face. "Calm down!"

"Sorry; but how is he?" I asked, feeling a faint blush creep up on my face. Scott looked me up and down before responding.

"He's agreed to help us capture the Alpha. But we have to help him get off the hook too."

I nodded. "Yeah, we can do that." Scott rolled his eyes knowingly and told me that we would have to meet Derek at the animal clinic that night. Without thinking about the consequences I agreed.

* * *

"Scott, I don't want to pressure you or anything, but for the love of God _drive faster_!" I shouted as the SUV behind us got even closer. I could see the silhouette of the driver. Scott pushed down on the gas and we pulled forward a bit. The SUV just got closer.

Scott, Stiles, and I were crammed in Derek's car. Derek was in the middle of interrogating someone who might know who the Alpha was and we were making sure that the hunter in the SUV didn't catch on. Stiles was listening hard to the police scanner. Scott had his hands clenched on the wheel, the fear sparkling in his eyes very clearly. I stayed watch in the back seat.

The police scanner said something about a sighting of Derek and Scott quickly veered that way to pick him up. I slid around in the back seat as the big black SUV followed us closely. Scott managed to put more distance between us before slamming on the brakes. I made room for Stiles as he clambered into the back seat and Derek took the passenger seat.

"Did you find out anything?" Scott asked. Derek snarled and said no. Scott floored it and our small car shot forward and away from that SUV. "Who were you meeting in the school?"

"Some guy named Harris?" Derek growled back.

"Our chemistry teacher?" Stiles poked his head forward, peering at Derek. Derek glared hard at him before Stiles pulled his head back.

"What would Harris have to do with the Alpha?" Scott asked.

"I don't know," Derek said with frustration. "But I did find this," He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a crumbled piece of paper. I couldn't see what was on it. But Scott's reaction was enough to tell me that he had seen it before.

"You know where this is?" Derek asked sharply. Scott groaned.

"I've seen it on a necklace," Scott said grumpily. "On Alison's necklace,"

I shook my head as Derek started to badger Scott about getting that necklace. Stiles and I exchanged a glance and said nothing. Scott finally drove the car up into the woods and to Derek's front yard.

We filed out of the car and I got a good look around at everything. The half-moon was shining brightly across the sky and the moonlight was falling through the canopy of leaves much like my dreams. I breathed in the crisp late winter air and turned back to where Derek was still hounding Scott about the importance of the necklace. I was starting to wish that he would stop.

The half-light was making Derek's house look like it belonged in a horror film. I glanced back at where he had just finished with Scott. Scott turned around to talk to Stiles with his head bent. Derek, on the other hand, glanced up and saw me watching them. He glanced back at Scott and Stiles before making his way toward me.

I stiffened as Derek approached. Ever since that night in the school, we hadn't spoken a word to each other. Heck, he hadn't even _looked _at me since now. Derek must've sensed my tension because he slowed his pace and stopped a good few feet away from me.

There was a long moment of silence of staring at his burned house before either of us spoke. Derek cleared his throat.

"I still confused as to what happened that night in front of the school," Derek started. "All I remember was that I was looking at you, Scott, and Stiles, and the next, darkness. But after that, I remember seeing an orange light, as if I was staring at the sun."

I didn't look at him. Instead I listened to what he was saying without acknowledging him.

"I felt warm, and then, I opened my eyes and I was in some classroom that looked like someone had ravaged it. My first instinct was to get out of there, so that's what I did." Derek's voice stopped. He sounded like he was having a hard time speaking like this. "But something kept trying to get me to go back. I did a good job ignoring it, but the next day I finally figured out what had happened. There was a dream I had of some woman telling me what had happened that night." I could feel Derek's cold eyes on me now. "She told me that you saved my life. She said that without you I would be dead."

I finally turned around to face Derek. I explained to him the best I could about what I had done in the classroom and what Stiles had found out. Derek kept his mouth shut until the end.

"I think I know someone who might know where we can find out more about the phoenicis. I'll get you after school and we'll go." Derek said shortly. I blinked as he turned on his heel to walk back into his house. Right when he put his foot on the porch step, he glanced at me over his shoulder.

"Oh, and Tea…thanks,"

"You're welcome," I said quietly. Derek nodded curtly and disappeared into his house. I sighed and joined Scott and Stiles by where Stiles's jeep had been parked.


	17. 17: Home

Stiles and Scott were stressing out about getting that necklace. I couldn't focus at all during the next knowing that after school Derek was going to come and get me so that we could talk to someone.

But talk to someone about what exactly? Derek had said that this person will know about the phoenicis, but will they know the basic stuff that I already know, or will they be an expert when it comes to these things? I sighed and closed my locker to come face to face with Erica.

"Anna, are you okay?" Erica asked. "You seem off today. Actually, you've been off all week." She frowned.

I wanted nothing more than to tell Erica everything; everything about me being a rare mythical creature to the werewolf who was coming to get me later. But I knew that I couldn't.

"Sorry, Erica, I can't tell you," I said quietly. Erica frowned and narrowed her eyes.

"You know you've been acting really weird ever since you started hanging out with McCall and Stiles." Her face slackened a bit when she mentioned Stiles. I saw the flames of jealousy burning in her brown eyes. I stiffened as I realized that she was jealous of my friendship with Stiles.

"It's not like I'm meaning to!" I retorted. Erica glared at me and snorted.

"What do you mean you don't mean to? Are you saying that you don't mean to act like a crappy friend?"

I flinched as if Erica had slapped me. Judging by the look on Erica's face she knew that she had gone too far, but she didn't back down.

"Um, Tea,"

Erica and I whipped around to see Stiles looking mildly frightened to be interrupting. I saw him swallow. "Am I interrupting anything important?"

"No," I snapped. "Nothing at all," I stalked away from Erica, who looked hurt. I grabbed Stiles by the shirt sleeve and dragged him away from the scene. We stopped by Stiles's locker.

"What was that about?" Stiles asked once we finally stopped. I sighed and shook my head. I knew I would have to go apologize to Erica later, but not today.

"She's jealous about me hanging out with you and Scott all of a sudden." I told him shortly. Stiles blinked.

"Why would she be jealous?" He asked. I looked at him hard. How thick did you have to be to not get that Erica had a crush on him. But Stiles wasn't getting it. He shrugged. "Anyway, we've got a problem."

"Now what?" I groaned.

"Jackson knows about Scott; he knows what Scott is and he's threatening to tell Alison and her family." Stiles said in a hurry. I stared at him; this was not at all what I was expecting.

"How the hell did he find out?" I asked in a hushed voice. Stiles shrugged, looking nervous.

"He must've put the puzzle pieces together, I don't know. All I know is that he wants to become what Scott is."

I widened my eyes. "He actually _wants _to become one?" Stiles nodded. "That's crazy!"

Stiles shrugged. "Crazy enough for Jackson,"

The bell for class rang through the halls, forcing Stiles and I to separate. As I walked away, I started to feel as if something big and terrible was coming closer.

* * *

The final bell rang and I wasted no time bolting from my seat to the front steps of the school. I stood there for five minutes until the black sports car whipped into the parking lot. Students stopped walking to stare in wonder at the car as they tried to decide who it belonged to. The windows were tinted, but not tinted so that they completely hid Derek. I hurried to the car and started to climb in.

"Tea! Is that your _parents' _car?" Some random kid from my English class asked me from across the parking lot.

"Yeah!" I lied quickly and jumped inside the car. Derek didn't even say hello before he put the car into drive and whipped back out of the parking lot. We drove in silence for three minutes before Derek said something.

"So," Derek never sounded as awkward as he did right now. "How was school?"

"Oh, um," I started, a little thrown off that he wanted to talk about my day at school. "It was okay; it's school." Derek snorted, as if my answer amused him.

It was another awkward few minutes until I spoke again. "Where exactly are we going again?"

"To visit my only living relatives," Derek said shortly. "He not much alive, but he used to know all about different types of creatures. He might be able to tell us about the phoenicis."

"What do you mean he _might _be able to?" I asked. Derek hesitated.

"Let's just say he's not been in a very talkative mood ever since the fire,"

I nodded and turned away to stare out of the window. I was already worried that something bad was about to happen and just as the thought entered my mind, I felt a particularly warm presence in the car. I glanced sharply at Derek; either he didn't notice or he couldn't even feel it.

_Be strong over the next few days, my child._

Hestia…?

_A dead man is rising and it requires everyone's strength to survive the next few days._

Who was rising? And who exactly was everyone?

_Be strong for your pack, young one…_

As soon as the presence showed up, it was gone and I felt cold. My pack? Usually werewolves lived in packs. I risked a glance at Derek and thought about Scott, Stiles, Alison, I even thought about Jackson, Lydia, and Erica. My pack…

Hestia had said that our species couldn't defend itself. She had mentioned something about latching onto werewolf packs, witch covens, vampire cults, or any strong group for protection. I felt warmth course through my veins as I realized that I had found my pack.


	18. 18: Running With Wolves

Derek and I pulled up to the hospital. The sky had gone from its late afternoon sun to dark night very quickly. I swallowed and wondered if that had anything to do with the current situation. I felt my dread be put on hold though, as I recognized a very familiar jeep in the parking lot.

"Stiles is here," I said. Derek started.

"What?" Derek leaned forward until he could see out my window also. Stiles's jeep was parked just a little ways away. What the hell was he doing here? He was supposed to be playing on the lacrosse field tonight.

"You have to go in there alone, Tea," Derek told me. I spun around to stare at him. "I can't go in there immediately. I'm a wanted fugitive, remember?"

"Oh right," I said quietly. "Okey dokey then; I'll go see what Stiles is doing here."

"I'll call you in a few seconds so you know what to do, okay?" Derek said. I nodded and said okay. Derek looked like he wanted to say something else but he was holding it back and I left the safety of his car and into the hospital.

The white hospital was deserted as I entered it. There was no immediate sign of Stiles. I jumped when my ringtone pierced the deafening silence all around me.

"Hello?" I answered the phone. It was Derek on the other end.

"Do you see Stiles yet?"

"Nope; I'm going to check upstairs."

"Okay; just hurry."

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone as I used the elevator to the permanent resident ward. Stiles was waiting on the other side with a mop pointed straight at me.

"Stiles, what the hell are you doing here?" I asked him, furious at him for the heart attack I had just gotten. Stiles lowered his mop and looked affronted.

"What am I doing? I thought you and Derek were on some sort of mission!"

"We are!" Derek's angry snarl came loudly from my phone. Stiles stared at the phone in my hand and snorted.

"Sending Tea to do the hard work, Derek? Isn't that sort of below you?" Stiles sarcastically asked. Derek's snarl came from the speaker.

"Would both of you shut up!" I snapped to the hone and to Stiles. "Now Derek, who am I looking for here?" Derek started to direct me to a room at the end of the hall.

"My uncle should be in there." Derek said. I entered the room with Stiles close behind me. I froze once we entered the room though. Stiles rolled his eyes and took the phone from my hand.

"Is this a joke, Derek? There's no one here!"

"What?"

"It's pretty empty, Derek." I said calmly. There a tense pause that Stiles and I took to walk back into the hall. Then Derek started to scream loudly.

"GET OUT OF THERE, BOTH OF YOU! HE'S THE ALPHA! GET OUT!"

My phone was suddenly ripped out of my hand and crushed against the wall by the man standing behind us. Stiles put a protective arm in front of me and started to pull me back.

"So you two must be Stiles and Teanna?" The man said politely. I stared at Derek's uncle. He could've been handsome, but there was an ugly and grotesque burn marring one side of his face. I briefly thought about the Alpha I had defended myself against when I was young. Was there any slight chance that _this _was the same one?

"What are you two doing here?" A woman's voice sounded from behind us. I whipped around to see a creepy-looking redheaded nurse staring us down with an evil smile on her face. Stiles sputtered.

"Oh my God, we're going to die," He moaned. I quickly gripped his arm, hoping those burning powers would kick in and he'd get knocked back into his senses.

"There's no need for fear," Derek's uncle said softly. "I just need to use you for a moment Teanna. You may not have noticed, but I'm a little burned at the moment and I need to look handsome again."

"That won't be necessary." Derek's voice sounded from the elevator. With one fluid motion I watched him knock out the nurse. Derek's uncle tutted.

"Come now, Derek; that's my nurse,"

Derek roared and launched himself around Stiles and me to attack his uncle. Stiles grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and started to drag me away. But Derek's uncle was thrown at us and Stiles was forced back behind the counters. The Two-Face replica looked at me for half a second before he launched himself at me. I screamed and dove into a nearby room.

I quickly scrambled into the gap under a desk in that room. I glanced out of the wide open door to where Stiles was staring at me desperately from across the hall. Suddenly, Derek and his uncle were inside the room with me.

Derek was thrown to the corner of the room and his uncle paused before stooping down to my level. I tried hard to force my back into the wall to disappear. But the man just giggled as if it was amusing and held out his hand.

"My name is Peter and I'm dreadfully sorry that we had to meet this way," Peter Hale told me very politely. "But then again, we've met once already. But you didn't know who I was.

"That's right, Derek; I've already met your walking, talking first-aid kit. I could've ripped your throat out if I really wanted to. But you were different; too different. You reeked of a scent I had _dreamed _of smelling. If I had killed you then, you never would be able to heal my facial disfigurement. Speaking of which,"

Peter snapped his hand out and clamped it hard on my wrist. He then forced my palm against his burned cheek and he sighed. The wound fizzled and crackled just as Derek's and Stiles's wounds had done all those days ago. Finally, when the deed was done, Peter threw my hand back. He smiled a wolfish grin at me (pun not intended).

"You _are _useful, you first-aid kit, you," Peter cooed softly. He glanced back up to where Derek was apparently slumped in the corner. "I think I'm going to keep this one close by."

Before I could even scream out again, Peter Hale grabbed a handful of my hair and pulled me close to his side.

* * *

**A/N: *insert dramatic music here* I really wanted to post this chapter tomorrow, but now I'm excited to see how people will react so here it is. This is so far one of my favorite chapters. I hope y'all enjoy it to! :D I'll be back tomorrow also so yay!**


	19. 19: Self-Sacrifice

"Peter, calm down!" Derek shouted at his uncle. Peter shifted his grip on me so that I could no longer see Derek. Instead I was facing the outside hall. My heart stopped when I saw Stiles poke his head out from the corner of the counter. He raised his finger to his mouth for me to remain quiet.

Peter and Derek were talking. Peter mentioned something about them being family but I was too absorbed in watching Stiles slowly creep up with that mop from earlier. Hope flared in my chest like a trapped bird. Please Stiles, please Stiles…

"Peter, you don't have to hurt _her _though," Derek was saying. I managed to crane my neck backwards to see Derek's face. He looked _terrified_. But that was impossible: Derek was never scared. "Just let her go; I'll help with whatever you need me to. Please."

Derek Hale was begging.

Peter laughed loudly. "If I didn't know any better, Derek, I'd say you've grown fond of our first-aid kit here." He paused. "Stiles I suggest you stop what you're doing right now."

Stiles froze. He had gotten incredibly close; close enough for me reach out and grab his shirt. With one fluid motion he swung the mop at Peter's head. Peter grunted lowly and loosened his grip enough for me to slide out of his grip.

"Let's go Tea!" Stiles shouted. He grabbed my hand and started to drag me to the elevator. He mashed the button five times before giving up on it and charging instead for the stairs.

"If you want them to remain alive," I heard Peter scream at Derek. "Then I suggest you stop them from leaving the hospital!"

"Stiles wait!" I yelled. I stopped running down the stairs which resulted in Stiles jerking us both forward. He spun around to look at me like I was crazy. "He's going to kill _both _of us if we get out of here."

"I've made that conclusion a long time ago, Tea." Stiles said quickly. "Let's discuss it more in the jeep." He tried to yank me forward again but I held firm. He stared at me like he had never seen me before.

"Stiles, I'm not letting you die because you were trying to help." I told him sternly. "Scott isn't going to know what happened and _you're _going to need to explain everything that just happened tonight."

Stiles's face slackened when he realized what I was saying. He shook his head, his jaw lack and hanging open. "You're not staying here with him, Tea. Not when he's willing to kill you!"

Fear threatened to choke me and drown me. I wanted to run away from this hospital with Stiles more than anything. But if we came out together at the bottom of these stairs, Peter would be there and he wouldn't hesitate to cut both of us down. I wasn't going to let one of my best friends die because of me.

"Just go, Stiles," I said, trying my hardest to keep the tears from flowing. "Go tell Scott about what happened and get someone to help; _anyone._" The look on Stiles's face told me that he knew I meant his dad.

Stiles's body went rigid and he nodded very stiffly. He looked like he wanted nothing more than to argue as he always did, but better judgment had won. It even looked like he had tears in his eyes. He quickly stepped forward and wrapped his arms around me.

I hugged him back tightly, bracing myself for what was about to come. It was like Hestia had said: I would need the strength of my pack to survive the next few days. Stiles was still holding on but I had to push him away as gently as I possibly could.

"Wait at least thirty minutes before leaving the hospital." I ordered. Stiles nodded stiffly again. I exhaled and started to step down the stairs.

"Tea,"

I turned back to look at Stiles. He looked like he wanted to say something but couldn't get it off his chest. Instead he just nodded again and said, "We're coming back. We're going to get you the hell out of this."

Now tears were really threatening to overwhelm me. I just nodded and turned away as Stiles sat down on the stairs with his face in his hands. I walked out of the door at the end of the stairwell to come face to face with Derek.

Derek also looked like he wanted to comment on what he no doubt had heard in the stairwell. But his face already told me that he understood. So he just jerked his head to the elevator and we rode it back up in silence.

The elevator opened back up to where Peter was bent over his nurse. He glanced up at the sound of our approach and he smiled widely at us.

"Why hello again, Teanna," Peter greeted me as if we were simply bumping into each other after a few days apart. "I see that our friend Stiles wasn't a problem."

Derek nodded and glanced at me. He looked generally worried and anxious about me. I felt slightly better; it felt nice to have one person in this situation that cared about your welfare. Peter stood up and started to walk towards us.

"Your heart is beating like a drum, Teanna," Peter told me as if he was commenting on the weather. "Do I scare you _that _much?"

"You kind of do," I said quietly. Peter laughed loudly. Derek just stood to the side. I noticed how he was perfectly positioned between us so that if Peter started to attack, he'd be there to deflect the worst of the injuries.

"I'm sure you have many questions, little Teanna," Peter said calmly. "I'll be happy to answer all of them, but Derek and I have business to settle. So if you'd be so polite to stand still for a moment."

Before I could question him as to what he meant, Peter's arm swiped out of nowhere and hit me incredibly hard on the head. Right before I blacked out, I heard Derek roaring out of fury and felt someone tie my wrists and ankles together. Then I was overwhelmed with a heavy black blanket.


	20. 20: Some Answers

When I woke up I immediately noticed how I was still tied up. I must've been out of it for a long time because my joints ached. I glanced around at my surroundings. There were two beds, a dresser between the two, and an old fashioned TV right across from them. It looked like I was in a hotel of some sort.

The door banged open and I immediately heard Peter's voice. "I think that went rather well, don't you?" I heard Derek grunt.

"Oh lookie, Teanna's awake." Peter said this as if it was a pleasant surprise. I squirmed as I felt his hands on my and he sat me up on the bed so that I sat facing them. I was faintly surprised to see that it was Derek who had moved so gently. Peter was sitting on the end of the bed I was on, holding takeout.

"We got you some breakfast," Peter said, digging through the paper bag. He pulled out a biscuit and held it out for me. My stomach rumbled so loudly he must've heard it and remembered my current hand situation.

"Silly me," Peter mumbled. He sat down the takeout and reached over to me to cut away the bindings with his claws. He left the bindings on my ankles alone though. "There you go, now you can eat and we can talk.

"Derek told me how you went to the hospital last night to get answers about the phoenicis."

I glanced sharply at Derek. He tightened his jaw and nodded at me. I looked back at Peter. He looked at the biscuit. "Are you even going to eat that?"

I unwrapped the biscuit and took a bite out of it just so he'd be happy. Peter grinned cheekily and handed me a cup of orange juice to go with it. Then he sighed. "So what do you want to know about the phoenicis? I used to have a massive book concerning it."

I swallowed my food before speaking. "I know that it's a human version of the phoenix, but other than that, I don't know anything about it."

"You mean you don't know anything about yourself?" Peter corrected with a sly grin. "Whether you like it or not, you _are _the phoenicis. That's something that nothing can cure or fix."

"Are you going to tell me about it—I mean, myself, or not?" I asked impatiently. Peter smiled widely. Derek remained stiff on the other bed.

"Like the legend says," Peter began. "A Greek princess healed the last phoenix back to health after it was mortally wounded. In return the phoenix gave her some of its powers. This includes regeneration, healing, and slight prophetic dreams where they can communicate with former versions of themselves.

"Also similar to the phoenix, the phoenicis as almost no defensive skills. That's why many versions of the phoenicis latched themselves to powerful and large groups for protection from anything that would wish them harm. And trust me; there are _so _many threats against the phoenicis."

"What do you mean?" I asked. "The only person who is hunting me is you."

This made Peter laugh his loud laugh again. "What about the lovely character who gave you that scar? Derek told me about that, and it sounds like it must've some creature who wanted an immortal life."

"Wait, what?" I asked, stunned.

"That's the rumor anyway." Peter said dismissively. "Supposedly, if you killed a phoenicis, you gained every ounce of energy that that generation was supposed to live. Basically, it makes you immortal."

I stared at Peter, dumbstruck. "It was an Alpha, you know?" Both Peter and Derek looked up at me with interest. "It was an Alpha wolf who did this to me." I quickly explained what had happened after my throat was slashed. Peter nodded.

"This was also a myth but if a phoenicis dies before its time, it lets out the only offensive move it has which attacks its attacker and heals the phoenicis as much as possible."

"I still can't wrap my head around something," Derek interrupted. I looked at him. He was frowning at Peter. "Why would a pack take in something that only healed? We can heal ourselves."

Peter nodded. "True, but a phoenicis's healing skills are so much more advanced than an ordinary werewolf or even an Alpha. Teanna brought you back from dead when your normal healing powers couldn't. A phoenicis's healing powers speed along our own healing process, so if we are healed a certain amount of times by the phoenicis, our own healing powers have advanced and sped themselves up to try and mimic hers."

I exchanged a glance with Derek. He still looked like he had more to say. "I get that now, but then what?"

"For exchange of the super healing powers, the pack would give the phoenicis a place in the pack. It was mostly a marriage to a wolf high in the social ladder or a part-time leadership. The phoenicis were always top dogs whenever they joined a wolf pack."

My head was buzzing with information. "So when I die, another girl will be born and she'll be the next generation?"

Peter nodded. "You're catching on fast, kid. Now hurry up and eat your breakfast." He grinned evilly. "I've got a date tonight."


	21. 21: Awake and Alive

The entire day was spent with either Peter or Derek. Then Peter got dressed all nice for a date he had with Mrs. McCall. And since Derek had some business to do with someone else, they dragged me from the hotel to the burned down Hale mansion. Peter was soon long gone and it was just Derek and me all alone.

Derek finished with the handcuffs on my wrists. He stood up to leave.

"Derek, please don't leave me alone here." I pleaded. Derek stared at me with pity gleaming in his eyes. "If you let me go, then we can both get out of this mess. You're not really going to be a part of Peter's pack are you?"

Derek sighed. "I'm sorry, Tea. But I'm not doing this for Peter." And with that, Derek vanished and I was left alone in the darkness of the basement.

Hours crept by incredibly slow. I worked on the handcuffs that were so tight they were digging into my skin. I gritted my teeth as the cold metal dug deep into my skin, causing dark blood to flow freely. I stopped as the sound of footsteps came from upstairs.

It sounded like two people were up there. My first thought was that Peter and Derek were back. I quickly slid back to press my back against my bloody wrists. The cuts seared but I choked down the whimpers and listened to the footsteps.

They didn't sound like they were going anywhere. Then there was a lot of yelling. The voice didn't sound at all like Peter but the second one was most definitely Derek. That one voice sounded like Scott…

"Hey!" I screamed. "Someone please help me! I'm down in the basement!"

The sounds of fighting started from upstairs. The sound of gunfire struck fear through me like a knife.

"Scott! Derek!" I screamed as I started to rip through the handcuffs. I felt my flesh tear. I gnashed my teeth and roared with fury as the tight skin on my hands started to rip as well. And finally, after a good minute of pulling and forcing, my hands broke free.

I held my hands close to my chest as I stared in shock at the cuffs. They were still chained to the pipe I had been chained to, but the cuffs were covered in my blood and I could see tiny bits of my skin that had been torn off.

The sound of gunfire stopped upstairs and I remembered why I broke free in the first place. I scrambled to my feet and managed to struggle my way up the stairs. The silence in the house now was deafening and scary. There had been so much noise just a few moments ago. Was Scott and Derek even still up there?

I got my answer when I entered the foyer and the signs of a fight were there, but there was no one here to have fought. I choked back my tears and scrambled out of the mansion. Moonlight gleamed down at me. Tire tracks led away from the mansion.

"Scott?" I called weakly into the night. "Derek? Anyone?" I sighed, out of breath and started to limp slowly through the woods.

How long had I been Peter's captive? It has to have been at least a full day. I shook my head, trying to get rid of the fuzziness. When I looked down at my hands, I almost blacked out.

My wrists were destroyed in all of my struggling. Deep scratches scored on my palms and the back of my hands. I swallowed the rising bile in my throat and forced myself to push on. But where was I supposed to go?

I couldn't exactly go to the police. They would hold me there and bring my parents into this and I couldn't tell them that a pyscho just woke up from a coma and had held me hostage because I could heal him. I couldn't go home simply because the last people who needed to get involved in all of this were my parents.

Deaton. That vet who lived somewhere near here. If I couldn't go to a human hospital, the least I could do was go to an animal hospital. I started to creep in the direction of the animal clinic.

* * *

Morning light started to seep over the treetops. I stumbled through the thin stretch of trees that was my last obstacle to the animal clinic. My wrists still haven't stopped bleeding and the ground beneath my feet was starting to spin. I tripped and managed to catch myself on a tree. As I let go, I saw the perfect bloody handprint left on the bark.

If Peter was interested in finding me, he wouldn't have much trouble.

The sign on the door said closed. I felt the back of my eyes burn as I finished the last few steps to the animal clinic. Though the door said closed, the door was unlocked. I walked in as squinted at the overall brightness of the place.

"I thought I told you that we're closed." Deaton said from the back room. He entered the room from behind his counter and he froze in horror at the mess I was. I gave him a weak smile before falling to my knees on the floor.

"Scott I need your help!" Deaton yelled. I heard Scott enter the room.

"TEA!" Scott's voice gave away hints of worry and relief. "You're alive!"

"Barely," I muttered softly. I felt Scoot pick me up and carry me to the back room.

"What do you think is wrong with her?" Scott asked. Deaton moved around the room really fast as Scott laid me down on the cold metal table.

"She looks like she's lost a heavy amount of blood and she has several deep cuts on her hands, wrists, and ankles. Her wrists are going to need stiches. They look self-inflicted. Did they handcuff you, Teanna?"

"He left me no choice," I said weakly. "It was Peter who did this; Derek had nothing to do with it. He was just trying to protect me."

"Peter just left," Scott said. He was standing right beside my head, holding one of my hands. Deaton came back from the drawers with a mound of gauze, medical tape, and what looked like a sewing needle and some thread.

"Scott, you should get to school. Take those last minute safety measures with Alison that you were talking about. I'll take care of Teanna here."

"Are you sure?" Scott asked, the worry flooding back into his voice.

"I'm positive," Deaton replied calmly. Scott left the animal clinic twenty minutes after that to get to school. But before he left he told me that Stiles has been a nervous wreck for the past two days and how he got his dad to put up missing posters. I smiled and ordered Scott to go let him know that I was safe now. Then Scott was gone.

Deaton worked on my wrists in silence. I would flinch every now and then as the needle sunk into my wounded skin. When he was finished with them he sighed.

"You would think that a creature of healing would be able to heal itself."

I stared at him. Did Scott ever tell him about me? Deaton read the concerned expression on my face and laughed softly. "No, Scott didn't tell me anything. I knew what you were the moment I met you."

"How?" I croaked.

"I don't only take care of cats and dogs, Teanna. I had the pleasure of meeting a phoenicis once; she was always kind to me and we became good friends. When it was time for her to regenerate, I felt as if a part of me was dying. Then again, that's probably because she had healed me too many times for me to count."

"What did she look like?" I asked, feeling generally curious.

Deaton glanced at me with a smile before continuing his work on my ankles. "She looked similar to you. All phoenicis have similar traits: different shades of blond hair and different shades of blue eyes. She was taller than you and a little slimmer. But she was the best friend someone could have."

"You loved her," I said quietly. Deaton stopped his work for a moment to stare sadly at the table.

"I did," Deaton finally said. "I just regret that I never got to tell her that."

I felt a stab of pity for Deaton hit me. An image of a pretty woman who looked about nineteen filled my mind. Like Deaton had said, she looked taller and more slender than me and her hair was beach blond instead of my dark honey and her eyes were ice blue instead of my grayish-blue eyes. No wonder he loved her.

I rested my head back and closed my eyes. Peter was bound to be looking for me now. I tried not to think about what would happen when he finally caught up with me.

* * *

**A/N: We are getting extremely close to the end here! Argh! I'm getting excited. This means I'll be able to work on the next story in this series (yes, there will be a sequel for season two). Sloth party! *time to dance like a sloth* Please enjoy this chapter and I'll post the rest of the chapters very soon. :)**


	22. 22: New Threats

The day melted away and night fell with me hiding in the animal clinic. Deaton had set up a cot and gotten me several blankets and pillows to sleep with. According to him I slept seven hours after he had finished patching up my wounds. But then Deaton had to leave after hours to go home. And so, I was completely alone.

Well, not completely alone. The cats and dogs were here and they were good company. Feeling restless, I left my cot and crept into the cat room, where they lived.

Several cats purred at the sight of a human and they rubbed themselves against the bars to get at me. I snorted at the thought that they wanted to touch me was because they were cats and I was pretty much a bird. My thoughts were confirmed when one fluffy calico lashed out a paw at me. I shook my head and walked out to visit the dogs next door.

Their reaction was completely different than the cats. The dogs barked and wagged their tails and bent down to try and get me to play with them. I ended up finding a husky puppy and bringing him out to play. The puppy chased its own tail and tackled me to the ground. I laughed and after an hour, put him back into his kennel and left the dogs, much to their disappointment.

Shadows stretched across the animal clinic as I took a seat back down on my cot. I breathed loudly and closed my eyes, but sleep wouldn't come. I had already slept the day away, I was wide awake and I wanted to do something.

There was a strangely warm breeze taking over the room. My eyes snapped open and I found myself no longer in the animal clinic but on a rocky shore. I sat up quickly and looked around; I was lying on rotten seaweed instead on my nice cot. I scrambled to my feet and saw a familiar figure a little ways away.

I started towards Hestia. She was wearing a flowing white dress and had a sad expression on her face. Once I reached her, she just stared at me for a while before actually speaking.

"You have been so strong, young one," Hestia said softly. "But the real challenge is what lies after tomorrow night, when an ally becomes the slave of a stranger."

"Wait, what?" I asked. "You mean that there's something coming to get us _after _Peter?"

Hestia shook her head slowly. "That something is already after you and only you, my dear."

I was starting to get fed up with the whole prophecy stuff. "Why me; why am _I _the one that everyone wants to hunt? Huh? Peter Hale kidnapped me because and now I find out that someone else is already hunting me. This is not fair."

"The life of the phoenicis is never fair. It never has been and it never will be. Some women have committed suicide because of our duty."

"I don't blame them," I said with frustration. "And what duty? The only job I've been given is to stay alive."

"Our duty is too heal. Whether we heal our allies or enemies, we have been destined to walk the earth and try to heal all those who come across our paths. It is a hard duty, but one of much reward if done right."

I sighed and stared at the sea right next to us. "Why have you come tonight, Hestia? I know you well enough now to know that you always bring lots of news or advice. What else is there?"

Hestia looked sad again. "One of your allies will die tonight."

I felt every drop of blood in my body turn to ice. "Who?"

Hestia remained silent and sad-looking. I stepped forward.

"Is it Stiles? Derek? Scott?" I asked desperately. Hestia remained silent. I felt my turn extremely dry. "Alison? Erica? Hell, Jackson or Lydia?"

Hestia closed her eyes when she heard Lydia's name. I stared at her in shock. Lydia was going to die…?

"Am I supposed to protect her?" I asked through the dry mouth. Hestia opened her eyes and shook her head again.

"No; you're going to _heal _her,"

I blinked and the warm beach scene was gone. I was back in the dark animal clinic. But Hestia's presence was still here. _Heal her…_

I threw the blankets off my body and forced my shoes back onto my feet. I couldn't stay in the animal clinic another night, not while one of my friends was in danger. Hell, they were all in danger. I had no real idea as to what Hestia meant by healing Lydia, but I would try.

I had to.


	23. 23: Formality

I quickly ducked behind the house from the police cruiser in front. I held my breath until it drove away, off to patrol some other part of the neighborhood. I glanced up at my window, preparing myself to climb up there for what must've been the hundredth time since moving here.

My parents were at work; both of their cars were gone. The police cruiser came this way about every ten minutes. That gave me ten minutes to scale the house and disappear into my window.

I started by climbing the tall tree that grew right beside my bedroom window. The gauze on my hands started to peel away in a very painful manner, but I gritted my teeth and continued climbing. I made it to the top easily and I managed to hop from the tree top to the windowsill. As usual, my window was cracked to let fresh air in. I opened it with ease and jumped into my bedroom.

I had to go to the winter formal tonight. There wasn't a doubt in my mind that Peter would be there to attack Lydia. I still had no idea as to why Lydia was in danger, but I had to go to the formal to keep an eye on her. All I knew was that she was going to be attacked; there was no way around that. All I had to do was heal her.

"Who's there?"

I froze as my younger sister entered the room. She stopped and stared at me, soaking in my current appearance. I watched her eyes move from my torn and bleeding wrists to my greasy and gritty look. Finally, she looked me full in the face with tears forming in her eyes.

"You're alive," She said quietly. I nodded and held out a hand.

"Chelsea," I said slowly. "I need you to not tell the cops or Mom and Dad that I'm here."

"Why?" Chelsea asked with suspicion. "Were you even kidnapped in the first place?"

"Yes I was," I said, trying to remain calm. "I can't explain it, but I need you to trust me. Please don't tell anyone that I was here."

"Why should I?" Chelsea snapped. "Mom and Dad have been worried sick, you know? They've been on the phone for the past two days and they're probably on the phone again."

I nodded. "Please, Chelsea. This is a life or death situation here. If you tell someone where I am, one of my friends is going to die. I'm trying to save them, okay. Now, I'm begging you, do _not _tell anyone I was here."

Chelsea looked like she was thinking it over. Then she nodded. "Fine; I won't tell anyone. But I still don't like the fact that we're going behind Mom and Dad's backs."

"Trust me," I said grimly. "They've already gone behind my back." Chelsea looked confused but left the room anyway. I locked the door behind her and pressed my back against it.

I didn't have time to find a pretty dress for tonight. And besides, I was going there to protect people and possibly fight against Peter. I know what everyone said about the phoenicis not being able to fight offensively, but hell, I was going to give it a try.

I dressed myself in black skinny jeans and an olive green shirt that was slightly bigger on me. I yanked a brush through my hair and forced it up into a low ponytail. I slipped my black converse on and I took in my overall appearance: I looked like I was marching to war.

* * *

Night slipped across the city almost instantly. I had a vantage point on the school and I watched people start to pull up for the formal. I watched unfamiliar and familiar faces go inside the gym, but they weren't the faces I was looking for.

Then I saw them. Jackson's fancy car pulled up and out stepped…Alison? I nodded to myself as I realized that safety precaution that Deaton was talking about with Scott. Then Stiles's old blue jeep pulled up in front of Jackson's car.

Stiles and Lydia almost fell from the car and I watched as the four spoke for a moment before Jackson led Alison away. Then Stiles and Lydia walked in a little while after them. I sighed and thought that I should be with them.

I got closer to the school and stopped short of the guy checking tickets in front of the entrance to the gym. There was no way I could just walk up and buy a ticket. I looked around really fast for a guy who didn't have a date.

I quickly recognized one boy in my English class. He never really talked to anyone but he was always nice to me. And he was probably the friendliest face I would see tonight.

"Hey, Isaac!" I called. Isaac Lahey turned and looked at me with a look that resembled wonder and confusion. He sped-walked to me and gaped at the sight of me.

"Teanna? I thought you'd been kidnapped!"

"I was," I said quickly and dismissively. Isaac raised his eyebrows at my aloof attitude. "Listen Isaac, I need a favor." I glanced over his tall shoulder to the stand where they sold tickets. Isaac followed my gaze and understood immediately.

"You need me to get you into the dance?" He asked. I nodded, feeling slightly ashamed of using Isaac that way. But he sprinted off in the direction of the ticket stand and returned to me much like a puppy with my ticket in hand.

"Thanks so much, Isaac," I said happily. Isaac grinned when I said his name. As the light fell on his face from a passing car, I noticed something I didn't notice before. "What happened to your eye?"

Isaac's smile faded automatically and he ducked his head to hide the bruise right under his eye. "I…uh, um…ran into a door."

I didn't believe a single word he said. But I let it go and Isaac held out his arm for me to take. Together we marched straight into the formal. Isaac frowned as he looked at my outfit. "You don't look like you're going to a dance, you know?"

I nodded. "I'm aware," I looked up at Isaac, feeling that I should do something for him. "Thanks again for getting me in."

Isaac flustered and turned a slight shade of red. "Oh, um, it was nothing." Without thinking, I got up on my tiptoes and gave him a peck on the cheek. Isaac turned even redder, but the bruise under his eye disappeared altogether. I ducked away from Isaac and started to weave my way through the dance floor.

I quickly spotted Stiles and Lydia sitting together at a table. Lydia was looking bored and Stiles kept glancing from her to the dance floor, obviously hoping for the best. I circled around them, making sure to stay out of sight, and perched right above them on the bleachers.

The dance ebbed into the night and Stiles actually got Lydia to dance with him. I saw Scott and Alison together on the dance floor, both of them looking extremely happy to be together again. That was when Lydia wandered outside to look for Jackson. I hopped to my feet and followed.

It was out in the hallway where I ran into Stiles. Literally, ran into him. He gaped at me for a solid fifteen seconds before throwing his arms around me. I was frozen for a second before I did the same.

"How did you get away? When did you get away? Scott told me that you were safe but he wouldn't tell me where you were." Stiles was rambling. I pressed my red-stained hand against his mouth to shut him up.

"Stiles, I know we have some catching up to do but Lydia's in danger." I told him, knowing that it would snap him out of his phase. And I was right. Stiles immediately shut up and looked as if his own life was at stake.

"How? From who?"

"I think from Peter, but I can't be sure." I said quickly. "Where did she go?"

"To go look for Jackson," Stiles said. He froze and, without a word for me, ran to the outside. I ran as fast as I could after him. Once outside, I saw that he was heading for the brightly lit lacrosse field. I could see Lydia in her dress on the field. But there was someone else with her, heading straight toward her.

I skidded to a stop and hid behind the bleachers, close enough so that I could hear what Stiles and Peter would say. I watched in horror as Peter attacked Lydia and she fell limply to the ground.

"Please don't kill her," Stiles started to ramble again. "Please, I'm begging you, don't kill her."

"If you don't tell me where Derek is," Peter snarled. "I will rip her apart." He paused and glanced around at the bleachers. "Both of your girls." I felt my blood turn to ice and Stiles froze on the field.

Peter knew I was here.


	24. 24: Let It Burn

No one moved for a while. Then Peter screamed his question again. Stiles flinched and I felt a big stab of pity for him.

"I don't know where Derek is," Stiles said. Peter watched him closely. Stiles then started blabbing about cell phone signals. Then Peter sighed.

"Well then, let's get going," Peter said thoughtfully. I sucked in my breath. Stiles was in the same situation as me. Stiles's eyes widened as he caught on to what Peter was saying.

"W-We can't just leave Lydia here like this!"

I froze as Peter looked directly at where I was hiding. "I think our mutual friend will look after dear Lydia." I watched helplessly as Peter forced Stiles away. I waited a few minutes after they left to come out from my hiding spot. I sighed and then sprinted to where Lydia was alone.

"Here goes nothing," I muttered. My hands had already started to glow that orange glow. I grasped Lydia's arm and she was soon engulfed in the bright and warm glow. But the glow stayed on my hands instead of leaving like last time.

I frowned at my hands. The glow was supposed to leave, wasn't it? The faint and warm sensation turned into an intense heat. I clasped my hands together as the warm presence of Hestia surrounded me.

_Let it burn. Your biggest ally and Chosen needs you now more than ever. Fill the sky with your song and it will flow strength back into the weary bodies of the good and brave-hearted; and it will strike fear into the wicked. Let it burn._

I sighed and let my hands separate.

The orange glow shot up from my hands and into the dark sky above. I stared in wonder at what looked like the Northern lights as an eerie and beautiful and tragic song filled me up. It sounded as if every phoenicis ever was singing a song without words. Even as I listened, I could feel new strength flow into my limbs. And after what could've been seconds, the lights faded away and the song ended.

* * *

I left the lacrosse field right after Jackson ran in and carried Lydia away bridal style. After seeing that, I walked into the woods to look for my friends.

I must've walked around there for an hour. I was thinking about doubling back when I heard what sounded like a big cat's roar. But I now knew better.

"Werewolves," I breathed and started to run in that direction. I wasn't really surprised when I ended up in front of the Hale mansion. "Scott? Derek?"

A twig snapped behind me and I spun around and sighed with relief. Scott grinned widely upon seeing me and he looked over his shoulder to where a wounded Derek was hobbling after him. Then his steely hazel eyes looked up and met my blue eyes.

"Tea?" Derek muttered. I stiffened at the sight of him. He was the one who chained me in the basement. But a little voice in my head reminded me that he only did that to protect me from Peter.

Derek started to stagger towards me but was stopped short by a flying arrow that struck him hard in the chest.

I screamed as another arrow flew out from the woods and hit Derek right on the leg. He shouted something at me and Scott but I couldn't hear over the sound of the blood pounding in my ears.

Another arrow exploded against a tree in a blast of blinding light. I was knocked back and temporarily blinded. I heard Derek scream to run away but I couldn't focus on anything other than the pain in my eyes.

I felt Scott crawl past me and I heard someone's fast footsteps coming after him. Those footsteps stopped right next to me.

"We're not here for the girl," A hauntingly familiar female voice said from near Derek. "Now hurry up and shoot the Betas before I shoot myself."

There was a tense pause. "But I thought you said we were just going to catch them."

"Alison?" I croaked, peering up at her silhouette. She looked terrified and pale.

"It's easy, Alison," The woman's voice said. "Here, see," She pointed the gun at Derek and shot him in the head. I yelped as the glowing on my hands started again. I started to scramble my way to Derek to heal him again.

"This is precious," The woman said evilly. I turned and glanced at her over my shoulder and immediately wished that I hadn't. She looked like a hunter who had found an unexpected yet valuable piece of prey. "It looks like I just found the legendary phoenicis."

* * *

**A/N: One more chapter to go after this one! It might be posted today, or tomorrow, I honestly don't know. My computer crashed so now I'm having all this trouble with it. Anyway, almost finished with Clarity! :D**


	25. 25: The New Alpha

The woman, who I discovered was Alison's aunt, then started to repeat the long history of the phoenicis to Alison, who looked terrified. I turned back to my wounded friend and tried to reach him. But then Kate yanked up a handful of my hair and I froze when she placed a dagger right underneath my chin.

"I should kill you, you know." Kate whispered. "Eternal life; that's something that doesn't pass you by on a regular basis. But if it didn't work, you would just be reborn and I would have to hunt you down all over again." She laughed a foul laugh. "But if I kill you correctly, then I would break the chain of phoenicis for the rest of time."

There was a random gunshot and Kate let me go, dropping my face back into the pine needles. "Let them go, Kate. Remember our code."

I glanced up to see Alison's dad standing with a gun pointed at his sister, I assumed. Kate smirked. I took my chance of her being distracted to grab hold of Derek's hand. His body was quickly encased in the orange glow and I let out that worried sigh I had been holding in. Now that glow had to work its magic.

There was a low growl from deep inside the woods. I glanced around; the others had heard it to. Scott, Alison, Kate, and Mr. Argent were standing in a sort of circle. Then the Alpha jumped out from the bushes and tackled Mr. Argent to the ground. Then Peter dashed back into the woods like a lightning bolt.

I stayed on the ground with Derek. If Peter was here, did that mean that Stiles was nearby to? Those thoughts were put to rest as Peter swooped out again and knocked Alison and Scott to the ground. That left Kate standing alone.

"Come on!" Kate screamed out at the woods. She pointed her gun at the darkness surrounding us. Then she got an evil grin on her face as she spotted me. I cringed into the dirt as the gun was rotated toward me.

"I know packs sometimes let the phoenicis in to keep them healthy," Kate shouted into the woods. "If I killed your phoenicis, you'll be out of a proper healer." Kate opened her mouth to shout something else but she never got the chance.

The Alpha leapt over my body and tackled Kate before dragging her into the Hale mansion. Alison screamed and ran after her aunt. Scott went after her. I yelped as a sudden movement happened right next to me.

Derek was alive again. He met my eyes slowly and for a moment we just stared at each other and didn't move. Then Derek nodded and said quietly, "Thank you,"

"You're welcome," I replied just as quiet. Derek glanced over my shoulder to inspect the signs of struggle.

"Where's Peter?"

"He went inside the house," I told Derek. He nodded and stood up. Before I could react Derek had grabbed my hands in a surprisingly gentle way and helped me to my feet.

"You should help Argent over there," Derek said. "I'll go see to Peter." Without another word, he stormed past me and into the house. I ran to Mr. Argent's side and quickly healed him. Alison joined us with tears running down her face.

"My aunt's dead," Alison whispered. I looked at her for a moment before hugging my friend. I had no idea if I could heal emotional wounds, but it was worth a try.

The front of the house exploded with noise as Scott and Peter crashed outside. Where was Derek? I glanced at the house really fast, trying to see if he was coming. But that was interrupting by a set of headlights piercing through the darkness.

"Hey you!" Stiles screamed from Jackson's car. He chucked a large bottle of something at Peter, but the Alpha caught it gracefully in his hand-slash-paw thing and roared at Stiles. I realized what Stiles had thrown.

I know how Hestia told me that the phoenicis had no offensive powers. I knew that. But when my hands started to glow an angry red flame, I didn't hesitate to throw a ball of it right at the bottle of the firebomb chemicals.

I met my mark and it exploded with a flash of light. Peter's arm was engulfed in flames and more flames attacked his body when Jackson threw another bottle of firebomb chemicals. The fire burned the same angry red that was previously settled in my hands.

The fire burned out and Peter, back in his human form, collapsed on the side of the clearing. I felt pity well up inside my stomach to think that I was the one who did that. Those thoughts were put on hold though as Stiles ran to me from the car and encased me in his arms.

We stayed that way until Derek stepped out of the house. A mask of hatred and anger clouded his face and he ignored everyone else when he march past us and to where Peter still alive. Scott bolted up from where he and Alison had kissed and sprinted closer to Derek.

"Derek, please, if you do this I'm dead!" Scott shouted. Derek just glanced at Scott with pity and then down to Peter with malice. Before anyone could stop him, Derek slashed Peter's throat.

Derek straightened up and got a little closer to the clearing. He took in Scott and Alison, Mr. Argent, Jackson, and lastly me and Stiles. Something sinister flashed in his eyes when he looked at us but it was gone so fast I was even sure it had been there.

"I'm the new Alpha," Derek said blankly, and to my horror, his eyes flashed bright red.

* * *

Scott, Stiles, and I snuck into Lydia's hospital room. Scoot and Stiles took one side of the bed and I took the other. Stiles looked like he was going to vomit if he saw anything out of the ordinary.

Scott peeled away the gauze on where Peter bit her. He face tensed and then went slack. I peered at him curiously.

"Is it healed?" Stiles asked, looking away. I half expected Scott to answer with an immediate yes but instead he shook his head.

"No; it's not healing like it did with me," Scott showed us both the still healing bite wound. Scott looked at me. "I thought you said that you healed her."

"I did," I said slowly, feeling very worried. I explained again what had happened after Stiles and Peter had left. At the end, Scott and Stiles looked at each other with worry written all over their faces.

"She won't be a werewolf; and she's not human," Scott mumbled.

"Then what the heck is she?" Stiles asked in a hushed voice. We stayed there for a little while longer, that is until a nurse came in and shouted us from the room. We left the hospital with worry on our faces.

Just over the course of a few months, my life had been turned upside down and I was no longer the girl I had been when I moved to Beacon Hills. I was a rare and (according to everyone around me) seemingly dangerous and valuable creature. I glanced on either side of me to see Scott and Stiles and I smiled to myself.

Although my situation right now looked bleak, I had my pack with me. It wasn't necessarily a werewolf pack; it was mixed with humans and hunters and then some werewolves. They were family, and it was my job to try and protect them.

* * *

**A/N: Firstly, I would like to say I'm sorry for the long wait for this final chapter: my computer had a virus so it wouldn't let me on the internet at all. It was worse than writer's block because I had the inspiration to write but I couldn't because the computer wasn't working. *sigh***

**But anyway, I would like to thank everyone who read this, reviewed, and added this story their favorite list. It really means a lot when I come on here to see that so many people enjoyed my stories. :) I am planning a sequel & it is up on my profile if you want to go & get a head start on reading it.**

**I would also like to turn your attention to some of my other stories. To all my Harry Potter fans out there, I have a series which I am almost finished with and for my fellow Walking Dead fanatics I have started a story called "Things Fall Apart" which will be the first in a series. So if you enjoy Harry Potter, Walking Dead, American Horror Story, or Doctor Who I would appreciate it if you read those stories if you're interested and let me know what you think.**

**This author's note is officially too long and I'm going to end it by saying a final thank you to all of you loyal readers and that the next story for Teanna & her adventures is officially up so go to my profile & check that out! Thanks again! :)**

**-Katie**


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